Nutrition in Zero Gravity

Abstract

To sum up, this project helps me to the learn about the how the nutrition is important in the space. I have learned lots of facts that I did not even know or think about it before. Shortly, I took notes and did some researches on my subject which are nutrition for astronauts in space and I started to write what I have learned so far. I describe the nutrition in space, the history of food, modern space food, processing of space food, packaging space food, types of space food, psychological changes in space missions, future food of space and the space farming. I was so curious about the fundamental thing which is nutrition in the space and I found my answers to unanswered questions. Also this project and subject contribute to me a lot. Frankly, I could say that I will be doing more researches on this topic and I will be searching for the up to date news about nutrition in space. In other words, this project helps me to increase my viewpoint to space and I am looking forward to news about the space and more space. In my opinion, the awareness is the most important thing for a person that lives on this Earth.

1. Introduction

Actually, my motivation for this project is the curiosity about the essential needs of the humans in the space. So, the nutrition was the one of the biggest need in the space. Then I decided to choose this subject as a project for this course. According to my researches, there are lots of posts and research papers on the internet that means there were lots of researches before I was on this subject. However, I did not find any useful research paper on the internet. Actually, there is some information about my subject on the NASA’s websites. In my paper, there will be some comparisons on the people who are in space and who are on the Earth. And available foods as well as the basic needs of human. Also, we will be looking at the how these space foods are changed over the years and what will be and are the fundamentals of space foods in general. Moreover, we will be touch upon the astronauts’ mission types and how they the nutritious over these missions.

1. Nutrition in Space Introduction

As well as we all know about the human beings can’t live without the nutrition while they are far away from our livable planet which is the Earth. Especially the durations will be much than we expected for the astronauts missions. If we look at the subject in the way of food that astronauts in the space shuttles and in that shuttle they will live months. And it means that there will be more significant nutritional input in the space shuttle. Because of that reasons these nutritional inputs should be prepared in very well designed for the astronauts that they can find a variety of foods in the space. These varieties will help people who are in the space shuttles. Because while the astronauts in the space take decreased food and consequently they have weight loss. And it is a massive problem since the beginning of the space flights. But nowadays the aim is to decrease fat and increase the carbohydrate in the foods of astronauts. They also decreased the fiber for preventing constipation. According to my researches, the eating and drinking in the space increased sharply than the other or pre-spaceflights. On the missions of spaces resupply the Space Shuttle, the Russian MIR space station or the new International Space Station (ISS) currently being constructed in low Earth orbit, will be prepared on the Earth and shipped up ready to eat easily. The space flights are more popular and the long missions are planning more than the before they do so, there is a shift from ready to eat to food supplied from Earth to production, processing, preparation and recycling of nutrients in a closed environment. All of these processes are considering as Advanced Life Support in the NASA.

1. The Background

In the very first times of space flights, the nutrition had the minimal concern for the others. As the missions have changed and the space programs have become more complicated than the before we had. There are lots of different effects on the astronauts that are directly related to the food intake and needs. While we are in the space we will have limited storage, no refrigeration and scant facilities for meal preparation. Also in our lives, people definitely need those things in their life to keep living on the Earth. So the astronauts are dependent on the prepackaged or dehydrated food. It can be seen as you are in the forest camping that you do not have anything with you. If we think the other aspects of the environment we definitely consider the microgravity which is the most important effect on the human body. It will increase the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere up from a normal 0.03–0.04% to anywhere from 0.3–1.0%. Moreover, the radiation exposure is increasing. And a number of psychological factors may affect food intake, for example, isolation, small group interactions inability to acquire personal space or time in tight living quarters, work overload. All of the things that we mentioned can be effective on the psychology of the astronauts food intakes. As a result of these psychological changes and factors, there is the number of body changes of astronauts.

1. Space Food History

The foods are changing since the first Mercury flights started in the history. There are lots of criteria for space foods while they are preparing for the people who are related to astronauts nutrition. The important criteria are to provide food for them and these foods must be appetizing. Early Mercury capsule foods did not have a stage of preparation. And interestingly applesauce was the first food that consumed by John Glenn in the space. And approximately the food provided 2500kcal for each person in a day. By the Gemini mission which is launched in 1965, the food becomes more delicious than others. The astronauts have a chance to choose what would like to eat in the space shuttles, including shrimp cocktails, turkey bites, cream of chicken soup and butterscotch pudding. These food were freeze-dried. The meaning of freeze-dried is food is cooked, quickly frozen and then put them in a vacuum chamber to get rid of the water in it. And while the astronauts want to consume them they inject water in it with a water gun. Prior to the Apollo program(1968–1975), early space food development was at the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and the Natick Army Labs. The researches on the food development increased and continued till the Apollo missions. The hot water was new in the space shuttles and they are getting more appetizing results. In the Skylab mission which is launched in 1973, the astronauts were so lucky than the others. Because they had the comfort of their homes. They had large dining rooms and tables that allow to the astronauts can easily sit and eat. In the same era, Russia was developing its first space stations they had a parallel increase in food types (Steaks, lobster, and ice cream…). But by the early 1980s astronauts have a chance to design their own foods. They have a range of 74 different foods and 20 different drinks. They also have prepared their own meals in a galley with a water dispenser and an oven. In 2006, it was clear space food had entered a new realm. The chef, Emeril Lagasse, designed a menu for the astronauts. As a summary in the Mercury program had the first meal in space, in the Gemini program there was a first freeze-dried space food, in the Apollo11 there was hot water, in the Skylab program there were the refrigerated foods.

1. Modern Space Food

As we taught before, the space food which is fruits and vegetables can be easily stored in the room temperature for consumed on the space mission, in the space shuttles. Astronauts have a chance of different types of food that can be prepared and found in the space shuttles. Also, the astronauts can have a chance to what they would like to eat in the space; beef jerky, spaghetti, and fruit salad.

Japanese: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency which is called JAXA have developed the traditional Japanese food and drinks such as yokan, ramen, sushi, matcha, soups, rice with ume for their own astronauts.

Chinese: The Republic of China has started its first manned space flight in October 2003. In this space flight, the astronaut was the Yang Liwei, brought along with him processed yuxiang pork, and Eight Treasures rice, along with the Chinese traditional herbal tea.

Italian: The Italian firms which are Lavazza and Argotec developed an espresso machine. And they called that espresso machine ISSpresso, for the International Space Station. Also, they did the hot drinks, tea and chocolate and broth. Interestingly, the Italian astronaut who was Samantha Cristoforetti became the first person to drink freshly brewed coffee in space. It was also the first experiment in fluid dynamics in the space. Because the brewing machine and drinking cups were designed to work with fluids in low gravity.

Russian: The Russian crew has 300 different dishes on the ISS. For example, on breakfast, there were curds and nuts, mashed potatoes with nuts, apple-quince chip sticks, sugarless coffee, and vitamins. On the lunch, there were jellied pike perch, borsch with meat, goulash with buckwheat, bread, black currant juice, sugarless tea. At the supper, there were rice and meat, broccoli and cheese, nuts, tea with sugar. On the second supper, there were dried beef, cashew nuts, peaches, grape juice.

Korean: South Korea’s first astronauts were Yi So-Yeon, and, he was also in the team of International Space Station and, he was the guy come with the modified version of Korea’s national dish, kimchi. The idea of making fermented cabbage dish that was suitable for space travel took several years and over one million dollars.

Swedish: The Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang could not bring with him the reindeer jerky just it as weird for the Americans so soon before Christmas. He took moose instead of it.

Finally, the AFT which is NASA’s Advanced Food Technology Project is currently researching other ways of supplying food for the long-term missions to explore more.

1. Processing of Space Food

Producing or preparing food for the use of astronauts in the space is a very difficult process. There is a number of criteria that the space food must meet it. In the first place, the food must be physiologically appropriate for them. Specifically, the space food should be nutritious, digestible, and palatable. Secondly, it could be easily consumed in the zero-gravity environment. The people who are preparing this food must be careful about the food must be light, well packaged, fast to serve and require minimal cleaning up. And lastly, the foods should be easily storable, open easily and leave little waste behind it. Another point is carbonated drinks. They have been tried in space, but they are not the favored. Because there were problems that without gravity to separate liquid and gas, causing burping. Coca-Cola and Pepsi were the first carbonated drinks on STS-51-F in 1985 on the space. Coca-Cola is used in BioServe Space Technologies hardware used for biochemical experiments. And that is why Space Station Mir carried cans of Pepsi in 1996. Another drink was beer and beer used by Vostok 4-Pines so it was an experiment that reduced carbonation recipe met the criteria intended for space.

1. The packaging of Space Food

The mission of packaging of space food contains the preserving and containing the food. The packaging must be the lightest and easy to carry and practical in the preparation of the space food. Another important thing about the packaging also includes the bar-coded label, which it helps to allow for tracking the astronauts’ diets while they are on the space mission. The bar-coded labels also help us to astronauts that they can see the preparations of the food both in English and Russian. In the Russian space programs, everything packaged in cans in tins. The method of electro-resistive(ohmic) was way of the heating the food, they were opening with the can-opener for the consuming food directly in it. Also, the soups of Russians were hydrated and consumed by the packages. The space foods of NASA were packaged in retort pouches that are types of food packaging made from a laminate of flexible plastic and metal foils or they were freeze-drying. The space food packages also careful about the trays that help to astronauts can keep them in place. So the astronauts were able to easily use this food in the zero gravity.

Types of Space Foods

There are lots of types of classifications for food that is sending to space. Let’s start with the Beverages (B). These are the freeze-dried drink mixes are in the vacuum sealed pouches. Also, there is a chance to have your coffee and tea powdered cream or sugar. And, the empty pouches are for the drinking water in the space shuttles. The second one is the Fresh Foods (FF). As we can understand from its name these foods are fresh fruits, vegetables, and tortillas. The FF are the foods that they must consume in the first two days of the mission to prevent spoilage. This foods also give the astronauts psychological support while they are on the space. The third one is Irradiated Meat (I). These are the beef steaks that are sterilized with ionizing radiation to keep the food from spoiling. The fourth one is Intermediate Moisture (IM). These are the types of food have moisture but this moisture can’t cause immediate spoiling on the foods. The fifth one is Natural Form (NF). These are the nuts, cookies and granola bars that are ready to eat. The sixth one is Rehydratable Foods (R). The foods that drying with heat, osmotic drying and freeze drying. The seventh one is Thermostabilized (T). The thermostabilized food is also known as the retort process. This process helps to heats foods to destroy pathogens and microorganisms that may cause spoilage. The eighth type of food is Extended shelf-life bread products which are scones, waffles and rolls have a shelf life up to 18 months. So this one is the most durable and stored in the space shuttles. There are foods that they do not have any type, they are known by the item name like Shelf Stable Tortillas and Condiments.

1. Physiological Changes in Space Flight

With the possible exception of the immune system body changes that occur after entering the microgravity represent normal homeostatic responses to a new environment. The biggest change is the body control systems recognize the lack of gravity and beginning to adapt this unique situation. The fluids shift to the upper body from the legs and it causes a swollen face, congested sinuses, skinny legs are obvious signs. There will be some calcium losses and decrease in the blood volume. The rapid decrease in blood volume, not a big deal, but there is no longer a residual pool of blood in the lower legs. And also the astronauts lose iron in the body, so this why they are taking iron in the space. Significantly in the space missions the people who are in the space shuttle losing weight. Although we can’t measure the weight in space this problem was solved by the Body Mass Measuring Device.

1. Nutrition in Space

The aim of the space nutrition is to provide a food list or food diet that suitable for the space environment. Basically, they are decreasing the fat in the foods and increasing the carbohydrates. Also as a comparison, the rate of fiber is decreased to the Earth diet. But the protein content is similar to the Earth diet. Some factors affect their food intake in the space. On the space, the busy schedule often limits the time of meals. In the very first few days of flight, the space motion sickness causes to the loss of appetite. The intake of food also can be altered by the disruptions in circadian rhythms. Unfortunately, the foods that you liked on the Earth that it could not be favorite food in the space because of the changed perception of taste. So the repetitive food choices, with a limited range may probably result in boredom and decreased intake. There is a loss of muscle protein in space astronauts while they are traveling, although the rate of loss tends to decrease on the long missions than the short ones. Exercises are the one of the solutions that problem which is a loss of muscle protein but it does not help in a complete way. The factors that cause protein loss are inadequate energy intake, skeletal muscle remodeling in the microgravity and generalized metabolic stress which increase the protein turnover rate and decrease the protein synthesis in the astronaut body. Another problem is the loss of vitamin D availability in the lack of ultraviolet lights. Therefore, in the space foods lots of vitamin D supplementation. Also, the use of ultraviolet lights could enhance the vitamin D status of the astronauts in their space lives. Multiple factors also responsible for the bone calcium loss in the space, calcium loss means decreased muscle strength and decrease weight bearing. Under these conditions, astronauts have to take sufficient supplementation about the calcium and they have to be careful about it. And I would like to mention about the types of space foods which are rehydratable food, thermostabilized food, intermediate moisture food, natural form food, irradiated food, frozen food, fresh food and the refrigerated food. The water is removed from the rehydratable food to make them easier to store in the space shuttles. The methods are also known as the freeze-drying in the space sector which I was described in the Gemini section. We are putting the water back into that foods with the water guns. Thermostabilized foods are heat processed so they can be easily stored at room temperature. Fruits, puddings, and tuna fishes are the examples of this types of foods. Intermediate moisture foods are preserved by taking some water out the products; dried peaches, pears, apricots, and beef jerky are the examples. The natural form foods are ready to eat and packaged in the flexible pouches; nuts, granola bars, and cookies. The irradiated foods are beef steak and smoked turkey. These ones are cooked and packaged in flexible foil pouches as natural form foods and they are sterilized by ionizing radiation so they can be easily kept at room temperature. The frozen foods are quick frozen to prevent a buildup of large ice crystals. It helps to keep foods fresh; quiches, casseroles and chicken pot pie. The fresh foods are apples and bananas. The refrigerated foods need cold temperatures to prevent spoilage; cream cheese and sour cream.

1. Future Food in Space

The aim of the space shuttles in the next years will be an extended storage for foods. While we are in this case, we have to put more shelves or places to keep whole foods in the space shuttles. The variety of foods will be sharply increased in years. Because the boredom will be the most important challenge while the astronauts in the space missions, that missions can be years and we have to provide that lots of types foods in the space shuttles. And another challenge will be the ingredients of foods. The foods could be rich of lots of fundamental needs of human so it can easily give more energy to the astronauts. And the plants will be the best development for the who are in the space and it will give lots more moral for them. Then they can easily do whatever they do in the missions with a high effort. After a time while establishing bases on the Moon, the prepared foods will not be enough for the human. So the Advanced Life Support facility will need to be developed to grow foods, replenish oxygen from carbon dioxide and utilize water transpired by the plants. And this facility has to come up with a smaller area with a maximum quantity of food.

1. Space Farming

Space farming is the cultivation of crops in the space. Farming on the planets is the same thing as the farming on the space stations. But, there are some dependencies like the size of the celestial body, microgravity. In every different environment, the farming will be different depends on the which place to farm. So there will be different difficulties. First of all, the process of supplying lots of foods to space or space shuttles is a very expensive thing to do it. So that is why the people are developing the space farming instead of it. According to the researches, one astronaut needs on the space need 1.8 kilograms of food and packaging per day. If you think about the long-term missions and number of the person in the space. Unfortunately, the price will disappoint us. So instead of shipping everything from the Earth to space, the space farming comes out and helps the astronauts. Just 10m² of crops will produce 25 percent of the daily requirements of 1 person. So it creates a new path to the people that the space shuttles can convert to the artificial ecosystem with a hydrological cycle and nutrient cycle. Furthermore, it also helps to astronauts that can maintain the shelf-life and reducing total mass in the spaceship, also it will help them to take more fresh vitamins from the crops they grow. According to the researches in 2009, there was a significant decrease in the vitamin A, C, and K on the storage of one year mission. So the mission of going to the Mars requires 4 more years, this is why these vitamins extremely important. Let me come to the technical challenges of attempting to do off-Earth agriculture which is reduced gravity, lighting, and pressure with the radiation. Plants were grown on the surface of. The Mars approximately 1/3 the gravity than the earth plants do. But If give the true light to the plants they will be growing up normally. The classification of the normal growth is opposite root and shoot growth direction. So their lots of sayings that plants grown in the space flight environment is smaller than the those grown on the earth. And also the rate of growth is slower. Clearly, the effect of gravity plants on the Mars will have higher radiation than on Earth. So this high levels of radiation will cause a damage to the plant DNA so it will affect directly the growth and reproduction. Finally, I would like to share some experiments with the space farming that occurred in our world. The first one is the ‘’Greenhab’’ at the Mars desert research station in Utah contains a greenhouse which is designed to emulate some of the challenges resulting from farming on Mars. The second experiment is the Lada experiment and the European Modular Cultivation System on the International Space Station is used to grow a small amount of fresh food. In 2013, NASA funded research to develop a 3D food printer so they had an aim to get models of foods easily in the space. And the last one is the NASA Vegetable Production System, called also “Veggie”, is a deployable unit which aims to produce salad-type crops aboard the International Space Station.

1. Conclusions

In conclusion, I have done my whole researches about my subject which is nutrition on space and collected my all data from the sources that I can find. Respectively, we have covered topics which are the nutrition in space, the history of food, modern space food, processing of space food, packaging space food, types of space food, psychological changes in space missions, future food of space and the space farming. As much as I can explain the all the topics that above and gave different examples. I think the people who are working with NASA and more, will find the solutions to these problems and help to next generations for going further than now.

References:

Nutrition in Spaceflight and Weightless Models. Lane, H. W. and Schoeller, D. A. Ed. 1999, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.

Food and Nutrition During Spaceflight. Phillips, R. W. In Fundamentals of Space Life Sciences, Churchill, S. E. Ed. 1997, Krieger Publishing Co. Malabar Florida.

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