Skip to main content

Researchers design a ‘space salad’ to keep astronauts healthy and happy

When it comes to imagining food in space, the first thing that’s likely to cross most people’s minds is freeze-dried products like astronaut ice cream. And while preserved foods will inevitably be a part of astronaut’s diets for the foreseeable future, nowadays there’s an increasing focus on how to provide astronauts with fresh foods like vegetables and grains for at least occasional treats.

Eating fresh foods is important not only for physical health reasons, but also for astronauts’ mental health. Repetitive, processed meals can be unappetizing and lead to what is called menu fatigue, in which astronauts don’t want to eat because they are so sick of having the same foods over and over. And that can be a real problem when astronauts are losing weight and not getting enough nutrients.

Recommended Videos

Fortunately, we’re getting better and better at growing a wider variety of foods in the microgravity conditions of space. In the last few years, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have grown foods like radishes, lettuce, and chili peppers. And now, a team of researchers has come up with an “astronaut salad” featuring foods that could be grown in space.

A salad created to provide nutrition for astronauts based on foods which can be grown in space.
A salad created to provide nutrition for astronauts is based on foods that can be grown in space. University of Adelaide

The salad, developed by researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia and the University of Nottingham in the U.K. contains a mixture of the following: soybean, poppy, barley, kale, peanuts, sweet potato, and sunflower seeds. The precise amounts of each ingredient have been adjusted so that it delivers the nutrients an astronaut would require as measured by a 2011 NASA study, — and so that it tastes good as well.

“We have simulated a mix of six to eight crops that deliver all the required nutrients that an astronaut needs, which is different from what people need on Earth,” one of the researchers, Volker Hessel of the University of Adelaide, said in a statement. “While there are dozens of crops that can fulfill an astronaut’s nutrient requirements, we needed to find those that could pack a punch and deliver the calories needed in smaller portions that could be grown in a small space.”

The researchers used a computational model to help them balance the nutritional needs of the astronauts, working from a list of more than 100 plants that could be suitable for growing in space. These are foods that can be grown in a small space, in a hydroponic system, and require minimal fertilizer.

To keep the meal appealing, the researchers chose plants with a variety of colors, textures, and flavors. “Food is such an integral part of staying healthy and happy, and there are many factors that contribute to this,” said another of the researchers, Shu Liang of the University of Nottingham. “As well as the nutritional values and ability to grow the plants in space, we also looked at other important aspects of a space diet to promote astronaut well-being, including color, taste and eating together.”

A team of volunteers tasted the salad and seemed happy with it, with one saying that they “wouldn’t mind eating this all week as an astronaut.”

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
SpaceX is about to launch 4 humans to orbit. Here’s how to watch
The International Space Station.

The Texas-based astronaut mission company Axiom Space is again partnering with SpaceX to launch four astronauts from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff of the Ax-4 mission is targeted for early on Wednesday, June 25. Read on for more details.

The crew will head to the International Space Station (ISS), where they’ll spend around two weeks living and working alongside the orbital outpost's current inhabitants.

Read more
Astronaut’s video shows aurora burst into life over Earth
An aurora over Earth, as seen from the space station.

In case it's escaped your attention, there’s been a surge of interest in aurora just recently after a powerful geomagnetic storm -- caused by a huge blast from the sun -- reached Earth at the beginning of this month.

Aurora occur when charged particles from the solar wind interact with Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere, leading to the formation of spectacular ribbons of light in the upper atmosphere. The best place to view aurora are from locations within or close to the Arctic Circle, with parts of Norway, Sweden, and Canada particularly famous for offering stunning views.

Read more
Here’s how one astronaut made a burger that’s out of this world
Jonny Kim enjoys his burger.

You might think it's tough trying to whip up a meal from whatever odds you have in the kitchen, but imagine how much harder that is to do in space. A NASA astronaut recently showed off his culinary chops, sharing his recipe for a make-do "ranger burger" created out of items available to him on the International Space Station (ISS).

When NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, who has been on board the space station since last month, was in the mood for a burger, he turned to the improvisation skills that had served him as a former Navy SEAL. Comparing his approach to that taken by many service members when confronted with not-famously-appetizing Meals Ready to Eat (MRE), he got inventive with his cooking.

Read more