NOVUS: Gastronomy In Space
“With consistent long-duration spaceflight becoming more probable in humanity’s future,” offers first-year student Corey McClelland, “the opportunities for innovation in microgravity gastronomy are seemingly limitless. Without the constraint of gravity, food is liberated from the plates and bowls that we are accustomed to. The physical properties of food can be leveraged for new presentations, new flavors and dishes can be imagined, and unique experiences can be created.”
Background
Food is essential to survival, but is also a significant staple of every culture on Earth. “As we begin to leave our blue cradle, it’s important to retain this strong connection to our cultures, but also to foster new cultures around food in microgravity,” writes Corey. “The current state of food in microgravity is more military ration than cuisine. An entire division of NASA is dedicated to the engineering of food for astronauts, but due to a variety of constraints astronauts are ultimately left with freeze dried and canned food.
“The current state of food in microgravity is more military ration than cuisine.”
Corey envisions Novus—a fictional microgravity gastronomy research facility in medium-Earth orbit. This facility would explore the opportunities of food production and consumption in space. Novus is latin for “new, fresh, unusual, extraordinary” which perfectly encapsulates the mission of this facility.
Physics & Chemistry
“The physical properties of food can be leveraged for innovative presentations, like the surface tension of a beverage containing it in an open vessel or the viscosity of a soup keeping it within a möbius strip bowl. Opportunities for new forms and flavors of food are also created by the constraints of cooking in space.
For example, bread cannot be made in space the same way it’s made with gravity. Hot air and oil become a safety hazard if they are released into the cabin by opening the oven. Therefore, an entirely new process is needed to achieve comparable results.
Earlier Thoughts
The initial concepts for this project were nearsighted and sought to solve existing problems related to food in microgravity. One of these concepts attempted to solve the problem of crumby/particulate food being banned from spaceflight. This food poses technological and physical safety concerns. These small particles can be accidentally inhaled or get into an individual’s eyes, and can also get into equipment causing malfunctions. The concept attempted to solve this issue by containing these particles until they were being consumed via a silicone mouthpiece.
