Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Friday, March 29, 2024

NASA to 3D Print the Future of Food 

<img style="float: left;" src="http://media2.hpcwire.com/dmr/NASA-funds-3D-food-printer-starts-with-pizza.jpg" alt="" width="95" height="60" border="0" />NASA has awarded a $125,000 grant for a project intended to 3D print food for astronauts in space. The printer will mix together basic nutrients such as oil and protein powder to create the food. It will also allow the user to input their sex, age, and weight so that it can make the food based on the individual's own nutritional needs.

For NASA astronauts packing their meals as they prepare to embark into space, it looks like Star Trek's replicator may be the shape of things to come. More specifically, NASA awarded a $125,000 grant for a project intended to 3D print food for astronauts in space.  However, this project could potentially help people on Earth as well.

Anjan Contractor, the system's creator, is planning on using the RepRap 3D printer as the backbone of his design.  Originally designed to print plastic objects, the RepRap 3D printer is planned on being modified by NASA to be equipped with the culinary building blocks in needs to create actual meals.  To create the food, the printer will mix together basic nutrients such as oil and protein powder.

The first dish that the printer will set to work on is pizza, which will not be an easy task.  Not only does it involve a multitude of ingredients, but it also requires them to be mixed and cooked at different times. 

The first order of business will be to mix, deposit, and cook the dough.  After this step is complete, tomato sauce made from powder, oil, and water will be added.   The final step in the printing process involves adding a protein layer.  The pizza has no real meat or cheese but should nonetheless add a variety to the astronauts’ simple diet.

With the 3D food printer, NASA will be able to use only the amount of food needed, while keeping the rest of it safely isolated.  And while food decay in space is not much of an issue due to the quarantined area in which the astronauts are confined, this is not the case back on Earth.

Contractor claims that the shelf life of food will be increased by up to 30 years when made into powders. This will allow environments that are conducive to quick rotting of food stock, such as Africa, South America and Asia, to have access to longer-lasting food.  The printer can also take in protein from a variety of sources like American corn, African insects, Asian algae, etc., to help developing countries get the types of food that they need. 

Another perk of the 3D food printer is that you can enter your sex, age, and weight into the software and the printer will create a pizza based on your own individual nutritional needs, which could be a huge help to dieters if printers such as this one enter the home.

Full story at ExtremeTech.

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