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Conditions and constraints of food processing in space.
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1994
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NutritionEngineeringSpace EnvironmentAgricultural EconomicsFood TransportExtremophileFood SystemsSustainable AgricultureMicrobial EcologyEnvironmental MicrobiologyAstronauticsLife Support SystemsHealth SciencesFood QualityFluid BehaviorBioastronauticsFood SafetySpace SustainabilityBalanced DietEnvironmental EngineeringSpace ArchitectureFood ProcessingFood ProductionFood Chain Production
Food processing in space must balance dietary needs, variety, and stability while contending with limited hardware volume, plant performance, microbial growth, and waste management under variable atmospheric, thermal, gravitational, magnetic, and radiation conditions that alter fluid, heat, and mass transfer. Many present technologies can be adapted to meet space conditions.
Requirements and constraints of food processing in space include a balanced diet, food variety, stability for storage, hardware weight and volume, plant performance, build-up of microorganisms, and waste processing. Lunar, Martian, and space station environmental conditions include variations in atmosphere, day length, temperature, gravity, magnetic field, and radiation environment. Weightlessness affects fluid behavior, heat transfer, and mass transfer. Concerns about microbial behavior include survival on Martian and lunar surfaces and in enclosed environments. Many present technologies can be adapted to meet space conditions.