Challenges for a Sustainable Food Production System on Board of the International Space Station: A Technical Review

Abstract

The possibility of prolonging space missions—and consequently the permanence of humans in space—depends on the possibility of providing them with an adequate supply of fresh foods to meet their nutritional requirements. This would allow space travelers to mitigate health risks associated with exposure to space radiation, microgravity and psychological stress. In this review, we attempt to critically summarize existing studies with the aim of suggesting possible solutions to overcome the challenges to develop a bio-regenerative life support system (BLSS) that can contribute to life support, supplying food and O2, while removing CO2 on the International Space Station (ISS). We describe the physical constraints and energy requirements for ISS farming in relation to space and energy resources, the problems related to lighting systems and criteria for selecting plants suitable for farming in space and microgravity. Clearly, the dimensions of a growth hardware that can be placed on ISS do not allow to produce enough fresh food to supplement the stored, packaged diet of astronauts; however, experimentation on ISS is pivotal for implementing plant growth systems and paves the way for the next long-duration space missions, including those in cis-lunar space and to the lunar surface.

Nutritional Orthopedics and Space Nutrition as Two Sides of the Same Coin: A Scoping Review

“…All aspects should be integrated by innovative systems (e.g., the Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System or PONDS [ 21 ]). Light-emitting diodes replace the sunlight [ 68 ], as direct solar flares from the Orion Arm, along with other galactic radiations, are known to cause severe consequences, like DNA breaks, chromosomal aberrations, genome instability, and carcinogenesis [ 69 ]. Any animal husbandries are influenced by component choices analogous to vegetable crops.…”

“…Summary II. A total of 33 references ([ 7 , 10 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 27 , 45 , 46 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 73 , 76 , 77 , 79 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 ]) were used to scope the following nutritional commonalities between post-operative (hospital-based) vs. space station (planetary) issues. The use of single-serving prepackaged meals; the need to establish demand-driven systems that crosstalk and reduce food waste; the importance of guaranteeing food safety and human engagement throughout the process; the need to support the musculoskeletal health; the interest in some nutrients (i.e., proteins, calcium, iron, vitamin D); the need for boosting food flavors to increase appetite, palatability, hedonic appreciation, and food intake.…”

“… Complex food systems [ 66 , 67 ] History of space plant growth systems, development trends. Demand-driven food system Reduced food supply Surplus disposal [ 22 , 68 , 73 ] Challenges for sustainable systems in space, insects as foods. Advanced nutrition Food research laboratory in space [ 20 ] Astronaut’s health and performance.…”

“… [ 21 ] Massa, 2018 NASA, Technical report Vegetable-production system/Advanced food systems can grow fresh vegetables, helping to mitigate the risk of inadequate supplies. [ 68 ] Carillo, 2020 Agron J, Review Space food systems/Bio-regenerative life support systems should fulfill physical constraints and energy requirements for space farming. [ 22 ] Dufour, 1981 NASA, Technical report Insects/Insects are a potential food source in space, providing a stream of proteins for sustaining astronauts’ health.…”

“…Demand-driven food system Reduced food supply Surplus disposal [22,68,73] Challenges for sustainable systems in space, insects as foods.…”