Space Meat? ESA Supports Cultured Meat Studies to Ensure Food Supplies for Astronauts

Space meat studies are now supported by the European Space Agency. ESA said that it wants experts to explore the possibility of growing cultured meat outside the plant.

"Solving the challenges of growing meat in space could also help us find solutions to produce it sustainably and effectively on Earth," said the space agency via its official Twitter account.

As of the moment, insufficient food supply is among the major problems of astronauts since it limits them from conducting long-duration space missions.

Space Meat? ESA Now Supports Cultured Meat Research

The idea of cultured meat is quite similar to the previous studies about space-grown plants, with the idea of ensuring space food supply security.

According to ESA's official blog post, it will support researchers exploring the possibility of growing space meat that can feed astronauts in orbit.

An ESA engineer, Paolo Corradi, said that long-duration space missions need long-shelf food supplies. However, there is also the risk of spoiled food affecting astronauts' health.

Paolo's colleague, Christle Paille, another ESA engineer, added that if people want to have longer-lasting space missions, they need to focus on creating new approaches to ensure quality food supplies that can last long enough during space activities.

ESA To Fund German and UK Companies

Right now, many companies are already applying for ESA's funding to make space meat a reality.

These include Yuri, a German company, and some U.K.-based firms, specifically Cellular Agriculture, Kayser Space, and Campden BRI.

Paolo explained that the funded teams are required to compare and analyze the benefits of cultured meat products for space applications.

After that, they need to create space meat requirements based on the nutritional guidelines for spaceflight missions and astronauts.

If you want to see more details about ESA's latest effort, you can view this link.

On Mar. 24, ESA's EUI captured a new image of the Sun.

On the other hand, ESA Solar Orbiter had a very close encounter with the comet Leonard.

For more news updates about ESA and its upcoming activities, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

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Written by: Griffin Davis