SpaceX: Can meat be grown in space?

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos both want to colonize space. Nasa is also attempting to land people on Mars' dusty surface.

But, if humans do decide to colonize the moon or other planets, what will they eat?

Many studies have been carried out to investigate if plants can thrive in space.

A new test to discover if meat cells can grow was started last week.

It was a little test for a prospective nutrition source, but it could be a significant leap for the future of space flight, as the experimenters hope.

Aleph Farms, an Israeli firm that specializes in producing meat from cells, came up with the idea for the experiment, which is being carried out by the first all-private astronaut team to visit the International Space Station.

However, others argue that the technology is too unstable for astronauts to rely on, and that producing meat in space would never be as straightforward as carrying it up from Earth.

How do you raise meat?

Even on Earth, growing meat from cells - especially at scale - is difficult. Aleph Farms is one of a number of companies attempting to manufacture "cultured meat," but it is the first to do so in space.

The corporation prefers not to use the term "lab-grown" beef, yet this procedure does not like that of a regular farm.

A cow's (or any animal's) cells are provided the nutrients they require to thrive, such as amino acids and carbs. The cells multiply until muscular tissue forms, which then turns into edible meat. This is referred to as "cultivation" or "proliferation."

The meat is raised in tanks that resemble those found in a brewery rather than a farm. The entire life cycle of a meat-producing animal is bypassed, including birth, life, and slaughter.

Enthusiasts say the process has potentially positive implications for the environment, drastically reducing methane emissions for example.

Why grow meat in space?

Scientists are unsure whether this can be recreated in zero gravity, according to Zvika Tamari, who oversees Aleph Farms' space program.

"Many prior scientific studies have shown that physiology and biology behave extremely differently under microgravity... So, we don't know, and no one knows, if these meat-proliferation mechanisms can actually take place in space."

So, when four men launched into space on the first private expedition to the International Space Station in a SpaceX rocket on April 8, they brought with them a little shoebox-sized container containing animal cells - and everything they need to grow.

Former astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria joined Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe, and Mark Pathy in launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They were scheduled to return to Earth on Sunday, April 24th, after which the cells would be thoroughly examined.

But is it worth it?

Even if the experiment is a success and meat can be grown in space is established, that does not mean it is a good idea.

There's a reason why local shops aren't stocked with cell-based meat. Despite the fact that the industry has received hundreds of millions of dollars in investment (Leonardo DiCaprio is an investor in Aleph Farms), this is a cuisine that is difficult to produce at scale.

In Israel, Aleph Farms is currently waiting for governmental approval before serving it in restaurants. This is cuisine that has yet to make an appearance on Earth, let alone in space.

However, there are other, more practical issues with growing beef in space. The first concern is sterility.

According to David Humbird, a chemical engineer at Berkeley, "animal cells grow slowly."

"If bacteria or fungus enters the culture, it will grow far quicker than animal cells and eventually take over, preventing you from producing animal cells. Bacteria are being produced by you. And you have to get rid of it "Mr. Humbird declares.

Aleph Farms claims that the sterility issue may be overcome, particularly in areas where relatively modest quantities of meat are required. Contamination, on the other hand, would be terrible for a community on Mars, the equivalent of a crop failure in space.

Aleph Farms also claims that delivering food to space is prohibitively expensive. The cost of just getting a pound of cargo into Earth's orbit, according to a Nasa estimate from 2008, is $10,000 (£7,800).

Bringing a pound of food to Mars would be prohibitively expensiv

"Millions of kilometers separate us from Mars. As a result, being able to manufacture your food locally and on-site is a major benefit ", Mr Tamari explains.

Mr. Humbird, on the other hand, is skeptical of this potential benefit.

"Sugar, amino acids, and water will be present in the cells that are developed on edible material. And the caloric value of the cells you generate will never be so high "he declares

"You could probably recover 25% of the calories and eat them as food in the best case scenario. So, why would you transport all those calories into space only to burn 75 percent of them? ""What do you think of them?"

However, there are other factors to consider while planning long space trips, such as astronauts' mental health

Karen Nyberg is a former Nasa astronaut who served on the International Space Station for five and a half months and now serves on Aleph Farms' advisory board.

She says food plays a crucial role in the psychological wellbeing of a crew.

"Food is delivered in these white bags that we simply have to hydrate, such as powdered milk and the like... I was yearning the aroma of garlic saute and olive oil, but we don't have either. And so I think anything we can have to bring back home would be fantastic."

Fresh fruits and vegetables, according to Ms Nyberg, are essential if humans are anticipated to remain absent from Earth for years at a time.

If humanity is serious about placing people on Mars, figuring out how to feed astronauts nutrient-dense food that won't deteriorate - and tastes delicious - will be a major challenge.

It's one thing to show that meat can be grown in space; it's quite another to show that it's trustworthy or a viable alternative to food transported in from Earth.

Aleph Farms has ambitious goals, but proving that meat can be produced on a large scale on Earth is a much more current concern.