"TEA. Earl Grey. Hot." If only astronauts on the International Space Station could summon their creature comforts as easily as Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek's starship Enterprise. After six months on the ISS, watching the sun rise 16 times a day, astronauts have eaten more than 500 tedious meals of dehydrated, long-life food. Who wouldn't give their right arm for a pizza bubbling with browned mozzarella or a fresh cream bun?
The wacky "food replicator" in Star Trek was pure make-believe. It stored 3D scans of the molecular structure of drinks and meals, then miraculously assembled individual molecules into these foods in seconds. That technology is way beyond our horizons, but a NASA-funded study is about to look into a simpler option - a compact cooking machine that will create a larderful of familiar foods from a limited range of space-friendly ingredients.
The idea is that you could request a ...
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