Can you imagine being able to “grow” food in space? An infinite and sustainable source for human subsistence in long space missions… or even to colonize planets? Well, you’re not the only one. In fact, according to a new report from the BBC, is already trying.
So far, we know that we can get cultured meat in vitro. It is a complicated process and quite expensive at present, but it represented one of the greatest technological and scientific processes of the moment. With just one pig cell, a totally edible and healthy hamburger could be created. However, trying it outside planet Earth is even more complex.
Aleph Farms was the first to dream of the experiment. BBC describes Aleph Farms as an Israeli company that “specializes in growing meat from cells And it’s being carried out by the first entirely private team of astronauts to visit the International Space Station.”
However, although the project is quite interesting, is not exempt of detractors. A skeptical group claims that this method is too unstable for astronauts to trust. In addition, they say, growing meat in space will never be as easy as bringing it from Earth.
A very complex process
It should be noted that growing meat from cells is not an easy process, and it is not a quick one either, even on planet Earth. However, that is what Aleph Farms has come for. Although the company is not the first to try farming meat, yes it is the first to try it in space.
Of course, to ‘farm’ meat you can’t expect to come across a traditional farm. Despite this, the company doesn’t like to use the term ‘lab grown’ to refer to their food.
The meat can be generated from any animal, although cells from cows or pigs are usually used. These cells are supplied with everything they need for their development; that is, amino acids and carbohydrates. With the necessary food and in the right conditions, the cell will multiply to form muscle tissuewhich later becomes edible meat for humans.
Some claim that this process can be much more friendly to the environment. The secret is that the methane generated by the livestock industry is drastically reducedgoing directly from a cell to a piece of meat with no natural debris in the middle of the process.
How can meat be grown in space?
The big question for scientists is whether this process can also be replicated in a zero-gravity situation. For this, the SpaceX team has taken to space this same April 8 a sample of the package needed to grow meat in space.
The package, which fits entirely into a container the size of a shoebox, contains animal cells and all necessary ingredients to feed and mature them in zero gravity; floating several kilometers from the planet.
With this mission came former astronaut Michael López-Alegria, accompanied by Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy; from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now, it was expected that this April 24 the group would return to spaceto then proceed to analyze the progress of the samples that were left in space.
We know from many previous scientific studies that physiology and biology behave very differently in a microgravity environment… So we really don’t know, nobody knows, if these culturing processes of flesh growth can occur actually in space.
Zvika Tamari, who runs the Aleph Farms space program
A technology that has much to improve…
Despite the apparent benefits of growing meat in the lab, there are several reasons why this science has not reached the universal and industrial scale.
One of them is the fact that this meat is too complicated to be produced on a large scale. Aleph Farm is still waiting for the Israeli government to approve the commercial use of such meat in restaurants, so it is still in a delicate enough situation on the planet to also be served in space.
In addition, the process is usually quite slow. According to David Humbird, a chemical engineer at Berkeley, “animal cells grow slowly.” David Humbird not a fan of the idea of growing meat in space, and the engineer has his reasons. It is not just the slowness of the process, but also the ease with which it can be corrupted in the event of the slightest mistake.
In fact, as Humbird expands in statements to the BBC“If bacteria or fungi entered the culture, they would grow much faster from the animal cells and take over, so you’re not making the animal cells anymore. You are manufacturing bacteria. and you have to throw them awaysays Mr. Humbird.
The astronaut challenge
Food plays a crucial role in the physical and psychological well-being of the crew of a spacecraft. This is why Karen Nyberg, unlike Humbird, does support the use of this type of food on space missions. According to Ella Nyberg, “Food comes in these white bags that we have to hydrate, like powdered milk and that sort of thing…” In addition, she comments on how during the missions he wanted to smell the smell of sauteed garlic and olive oil, things that are not available to them when they are hundreds of kilometers above the planet. “So anything we can have to bring home I think would be great,” she added.
However, if humanity is serious about putting humans on Mars, the first thing we have to finding is the way to create food on a large scale in not too friendly environments. Cultured meat is an excellent idea, however, it seems that there is still a lot of progress to be made in this department.
Aleph Farms has to assure us that it is capable of commercially producing food on planet Earth before trying anything out of orbit. After all, if it doesn’t work at home, it probably won’t work outside either.