14 DAY TRIAL // Astronauts don't have it easy in orbit, not just because of the lack of gravity and, consequently, difficulty to move around with any sort of speed and precision, but also because the food is nasty.
Well, maybe not nasty, but stale. Dehydrated. A necessary thing if it's going to last for the duration of the mission.
Sure, you can add water to it, you're supposed to, but the food is still pretty bland.
Mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor wants to change that, so he used a $125,000 / €91,000 grant he got last year to make a 3D printer capable of printing food.
Specifically, he enabled an open-source RepRap Mendel 3D printer to make 3D printed pizza.
Food “building blocks” are taken and used to create the crust, cheese and a “protein layer.” The cooking is done while the printing is in progress.
The printer uses cartridges of such “building blocks.” Contractor says they'll last for 30 years without going bad.
This is the second announcement about 3D printed pizza, the other one of note being the Foodini 3D printer.