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If we want to grow food in space, we need to start with bacteria and consider everything that agriculture needs to work, from why plants might need fish, to how to make the plants more digestible by feeding our gut microbes. Launching food into orbit can cost anywhere from under $5,000 to $100,000, so astronauts need food autonomy to be able to produce food independently without relying on Earth.
Well-designed food systems can be part of a bioregenerative life support system, supplying basic needs like oxygen and recycling waste. Researchers need to consider which species reproduce easily, how much space they take up, their growth rate, and how they tolerate fractional gravity or microgravity.
Duckweed and algae are efficient options for producing food, but they need to be highly processed and are not the most appetizing. Traditional crops come with inedible vines and leaves, so researchers have genetically engineered a tomato variety that makes bigger fruits with less foliage.
In addition to plants, we need to think a little smaller and a lot wetter to mimic the efficiency of natural systems as much as possible. Right now, we don’t have huge starships or lunar colonies that can hold traditional farm animals. Aquaculture systems are a sustainable and space-efficient way to provide protein and fat-rich dietary requirements for spacefaring humans while making sure that resources get recycled over and over. These systems might focus on aquatic invertebrates like mollusks or shrimp, which grow quickly, use up little space, and can eat those extra plant bits we discussed earlier. And waste from aquatic animals can be used to feed algae. A French team interested in food autonomy for the European Space Agency’s planned Moon Village looked into using sea bass and the meagre fish. These species could provide nutrients essential for human brain health, while their waste could be fed to algae. The whole thing loops like a satisfying TikTok.
In our constructed ecosystem, we even want to consider insects. They’re a great source of bioavailable fats and proteins. But even insects are not our smallest consideration. For something as crucial as food, you need to scale down even further and think about the microbiome. Microbiomes are tiny ecosystems of bacteria, fungi, single-celled eukaryotes, and a whole host of other critters that help break down food elements that otherwise don’t get consumed. We can maximize the food output by designing and curating our selections of microbes in our food production systems.
But microbiomes aren’t just in soil and water. They are in the guts of animals, including humans. The diversity and abundance of gut microbes influence what nutrients we extract from our food. A better understanding of the human microbiome may help us select bacteria species that allow us to get the most out of the food we do eat. The idea is, astronauts may one day be able to take personalized prebiotics - basically bacteria food - that support desired species. Researchers are working to understand our microbes and learn what we can do to support them. That way, we could allow astronaut bellies to do more with less, and decrease the amount they would actually have to grow.
Living systems can be incredibly complex, and food production is already complicated before you add space to the equation. But an astronaut’s gotta eat, so these challenges must be solved before any real long-term space exploration can occur. So you know, if you ever wanted to don a pair of space overalls and take advantage of the most rural living possible, space farmer just might be the future career for you!
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