Cellular Agriculture for Future Human Space Missions
Cellular Agriculture for Future Human Space Missions
Category: Life & Physical Science Payloads, Life Support, Robotics & Automation (ESA Technology Strategy Chapter 6.6)
Abstract
This idea regards the possibility of application of the emerging 'cellular agriculture' as a novel technique to produce “renewable” nutrient sources (food) for future long-term human space missions. Future human long-term missions in spacecraft or in planetary outposts, e.g. on Moon and Mars, will need solutions for producing/cultivating food in-situ, in view to: - limit the amount of long shelf-life food to be transported; - have the possibility to produce new food, in case the long shelf-life food is, by accident or unforeseen causes, degraded or lost; - reach a higher level of self-sustainability and have availability of fresh food. Among all the food produced on Earth, the conventional production of animal-based food in space would be unfeasible. Cellular agriculture is the production of agriculture products (animal- and plant-based) from cell cultures, and it is a rapidly evolving research field. Products produced from cell cultures can be the same as those harvested from animals or plants. Their production consists in cellular growth in bio-reactors, which are a well-established technology in space. While the amount of culturing medium necessary to have on board the spacecraft would be part of the study (together with the possibility to re-use it and integrate it in a closed waste-based loop life-support system), it would be in principle possible to continue producing, e.g., "cultured meat" indefinitely without introducing new cells from a living organism. In addition, cellular agriculture offers the possibility to ‘design’ the final product, e.g. making it with a higher nutritious content and healthier, which would be important in order to keep astronauts' diet and health under control. It is proposed to perform two separate studies to assess the feasibility of cellular agriculture in space to produce 1) cultured meat and 2) plant-cell cultured products, with bio-reactors integrated in waste-based closed-loop life-support systems.
I accept all general and special conditions of participation
I confirm to be in possession of all required rights to submit this idea
I confirm my idea is novel and has never been submitted to ESA before
European Space Agency
paolo.corradi@esa.int
- Study
The two studies will assess the feasibility of cellular agriculture techniques in space to produce cellular products as 1) cultured meat and 2) plant-cell cultured product(s), with the following main objectives:
- To present an application analysis of the product for space application, namely the benefits for a space mission that the selected cellular agriculture product can offer.
- To evaluate the required resources for the production in space of the selected cellular agriculture product, e.g. the amount of the necessary dedicated consumables, as the culturing medium, and to calculate its potential input/output mass ratio and compare it with the input/output mass ratio that can be obtained by the potential on-board production of other food sources (e.g. growth of plants).
- To assess the feasibility and the efficiency of producing the selected cellular agriculture product in a closed waste-based loop system, possibly integrated in the current spacecraft on-board life-support systems.
Idea Background:
Cellular agriculture, and in particular cultured meat, is an emerging field of research in rapid evolution, with significant investments also from large meat processors and marketers. It is then worth mentioning that is possible to cultivate also animal-derived food products as well, e.g. milk and eggs (and other animal-derived products, as leather).
Research for cellular agriculture in space, and in particular the exploitation of space technologies developed for waste-based closed-loop life support system, could facilitate, as technology transfer, the development of future ground applications, e.g. highly efficient and ‘zero’-waste bio-reactors for growing cultured meat on Earth, in order to maximize the sustainability of the cultured meat production. Mass-produced and economically viable cultured meat could dramatically contribute to a number of United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (namely: SDG no. 2, 12, 13, and 15), which are part of the ESA commitments (https://sdg.esa.int/), and it would address the repeated warnings by UN and scientific community that the current meat production is already unsustainable for the planet, in terms of usage of resources (e.g. energy, land, water) and associated environmental footprint (e.g. greenhouse gases, deforestation, biodiversity loss). It would also eliminate the risks of severe bacterial and viral diseases associated with animal farming and meat products that can affect humans (zoonotic diseases). Finally, it could also mean the end of animal (intensive) farming, which is rising more and more ethical debates.
None.
- 3. faster adoption of innovative technology
- Science & Exploration (including all science missions, human spaceflight and, robotic exploration)
Paolo Corradi
2nd Round idea
No Data to Display
STATISTICS
- Sep 23, 2020
- 1,512 Views
- 88 Visitors
- 0 Comments
- 2 Likes
- 1 Follower