Challenges in food system development for deep space missions

Abstract: With a reinvigoration of space travel, space agencies around the world collaborate to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024, establish a moonbase with a constant human lunar presence by 2028 and bring humans to Mars by 2030. Even though we may have the technology to bring humans to Mars, we do not have the required food systems and the food technology to sustain them. A mission to Mars will last for approximately 3 years and will be the first time humans traverse into deep space which will introduce a plethora of new challenges. First, food developers need to ensure that food sustains a 5 year shelf life in ambient temperature that can withstand the extreme environments of space such as elevated levels of radiation. Second, food developers need to consider that food serves as a countermeasure to many of the challenges of deep space missions. Nutrition plays a critical role as a countermeasure for environmental stressors such as microgravity and elevated levels of radiation which will severely affect both shelf life as well as astronauts' health. Conversely, these environmental stressors also affect nutrient stability and bioavailability. Third, food developers should not overlook the psychological aspects of food that we may take for granted in everyday life and how food may work as a countermeasure to the many psychological challenges that come with living in a confined space far away from earth, deprived of other sensorial stimulation. Furthermore, without organoleptic appeal, there is a risk that food remains uneaten, deeming the food worthless. This will result in astronauts suffering from both malnutrition and sensorial deprivation which can have a snowball effect leading to severe physiological and psychological problems. Food developers need to take all of the factors mentioned above into account, and it may be imperative with interdisciplinary studies between the areas highlighted in this review in order to achieve proper food systems for future deep space missions.