IN 2013, I lived in Hawai鈥檌 on the side of the Mauna Loa volcano, locked in a habitat with five other engineers and scientists to act out life on Mars for 120 days. I was crew commander of HI- SEAS I, the first NASA-funded Hawai鈥檌 Space Exploration Analog and Simulation mission.
Our main scientific work was a food study, investigating whether cooking with shelf-stable ingredients, such as freeze-dried meat and dehydrated vegetables, could combat a phenomenon called menu fatigue 鈥� which is a loss of appetite caused by repeated consumption of pre-prepared meals. Ours went down a treat.
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The environment of space forces us to be resourceful. The International Space Station is about 400 kilometres from Earth, so regular resupply is feasible but costly. Once humanity ventures deeper into space, a more radical approach to sustainability will have to be embraced. Applied back on Earth, such an approach could also profoundly ease terrestrial food security challenges.
The world鈥檚 food systems are already under significant strain because of covid-19, and Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine has become another threat to global food security. Big challenges need innovative solutions. And, as improbable as it might seem, space exploration might actually help to secure our food future 鈥� contributing to a more sustainable and resilient global food system.
In space, rather than depending on resupplies, we need to learn how to grow significant amounts of food with a circular approach. This means capturing human waste and breaking it down into nutrients for crops and other edible organisms, while at the same time using it to provide oxygen and fresh water. I call this 鈥渕olecular sustainability鈥�.
An example of such a 鈥渃losed loop鈥� system is the (MELiSSA) program, managed by 14 partners including the European Space Agency. It is a minimal ecosystem comprising five compartments that are inhabited by different organisms. Each compartment has its own specific metabolic function, and human waste gets broken down through a sequence of bioreactor types, each inhabited by different microorganisms.
MELiSSA is developed by a consortium of . There is currently an operational pilot plant at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain that connects a number of compartments, with rats used as proxies for astronauts. Their urine and carbon dioxide get recycled and used to grow crops and edible microalgae.
This molecular sustainability, in which every molecule counts, stands in stark contrast to the food waste problem here on Earth. Every year, 鈥� roughly a third of global food production. This is unjustifiable, especially when we are developing extraterrestrial systems that are aiming to be so efficient. We might never eliminate all food waste on Earth, but by using concepts from space, we should be able to significantly reduce the amount.
Collaborations such as the Global Food Safety Initiative are crucial to driving the scale and pace of change we need. This coalition brings together the food industry鈥檚 biggest retailers and manufacturers to oversee food safety standards for businesses, and it helps provide access to safe and sustainable food for people everywhere. At its recent conference, I spoke about what we can learn from space to improve food security on Earth, hoping to inspire experts from business, government and academia.
Sometimes, taking a step away from Earth can help us see things more clearly. It is by considering our life as a whole, both on and off this planet, that we will be able to create a more resilient food future for all of humanity.
Angelo Vermeulen is a space systems researcher, biologist and artist
