This story is from October 11, 2019

In a first, astronauts 3D-print meat in space

In a first, astronauts 3D-print meat in space
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka (on screen) poses with the 3D bioprinter on International Space Station on Wednesday
Space food is notoriously lackluster, but new technology is slowly revolutionising the way astronauts eat. Whereas the first astronauts in space squeezed their meals from toothpaste-like tubes, today’s astronauts chow down on ice cream and fresh fruit, and season their meals with liquid salt and pepper.
But there are still limits to the types of food that can withstand microgravity.
Anything that can produce crumbs, for instance, is considered dangerous, since food particles can clog a spacecraft’s electrical systems or air filters.
So tech companies are experimenting with ways to grow food onboard a spacecraft.
In late September, Israeli food-tech startup Aleph Farms oversaw the growth of meat in space for the first time, with the help of a 3D printer. The experiment isn’t entirely new, but it does suggest that meat could be grown in all kinds of harsh environments.
To make their lab-grown meat, Aleph Farms starts by extracting cells from a cow through a small biopsy. The cells are then placed in a “broth” of nutrients that simulates the environment inside a cow’s body. From there, they grow into a thin piece of steak.
Those who’ve tasted the product say it leaves something to be desired, but it’s meant to mimic the texture and flavour of traditional beef.
“We’re the only company that has the capacity to make fully-textured meat that includes muscle fibers and blood vessels — all the components that provide the necessary structure and connections for the tissue,” Aleph’s CEO and co-founder, Didier Toubia, said last year.

But to grow the meat in space, Aleph Farms had to alter their process slightly.
First, they placed the cow cells and nutrient broth in closed vials. Next, they loaded the vials onto the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft in Kazakhstan. On September 25, the spacecraft took off for the Russian segment of the International Space Station, orbiting about 250 miles away from Earth.
When the vials arrived at the station, Russian astronauts inserted them into a magnetic printer from the Russian company 3D Bioprinting Solutions. The printer then replicated the cells to produce muscle tissue (the “meat”). The bioprinter produced beef, rabbit and fish tissue using magnetic fields in microgravity. The samples returned to Earth on October 3.
“It’s one small nibble for man, one giant bite for mankind,” said Yusef Khesuani of 3D Bioprinting Solutions, the Russian laboratory that created the bioprinter.
The experiment isn’t the first time food has been artificially grown in space. In 2015, astronauts grew romaine lettuce on the ISS. Nasa is now developing a “space garden” that can produce lettuce, strawberries, carrots, and potatoes on the Gateway, a proposed space station that could orbit the moon. The experiment is a sign that meat could be grown anywhere on Earth. The ability to print meat in microgravity isn’t just good news for astronauts. It also suggests that companies could print meat in extreme environments on Earth — particularly in places where water or land is scarce.
Normally, it takes up to 5,200 gallons of water to produce a single 2.2-pound steak. But growing cultured meat uses about 10 times less water and land than traditional livestock agriculture.
The need to produce food while conserving natural resources is more pressing than ever.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA