Imagine if this deliciousness was printed out in front of you. Would you still eat it?
We’ve mentioned before that 3D printers can revolutionize the way we look at food. Food has been a popular medium for 3D printing, from printed chocolate to printed meat. In a few years, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to serve yourself up a slice of cheesy goodness whenever you want – NASA is working on creating 3D printed pizza.
Why NASA is Involved
In case you haven’t guessed yet, food in space is a bit of an issue. Chris Hatfield has some awesome videos about the difficult of eating in space. In his video, he mentions that they can get a tortilla to last for up to 18 months. That seems like a long time, but keep in mind how expensive it is to send flights to the space station, let along to distant locations like Mars. NASA estimates that it would take roughly 8 months to fly a human to Mars. Even if you could send one of those flights a year, the food would have spoiled long before the next supply ship arrived. Granted, you can make some food last longer, but that doesn’t mean it’s either nutritious or delicious.
NASA has currently contracted an outside company to work on creating a viable way to make food using a 3D printer. Unlike many of the “chocolate” printers out there, which layer liquid chocolate into whatever shape you like, this printer would attempt to reconstruct food from a more basic level. Carbohydrates, proteins, and other food elements will be layered and cooked until they smell, taste, and feel like regular food; at least, that’s the idea.
Why a 3D Printed Pizza?
As Singularity Hub puts it, pizza is an ideal subject for this technology because it has “a variety of ingredients arranged in layers”. The printer can lay down dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings all in order. A pizza is far easier for a 3D printer to handle than, say, a blueberry muffin or a burrito.
Even better, because the components will be completely dehydrated, the makers expect the food to be able to last for 30 years. If you’re trapped on another planet waiting for your next supply ship, the idea of having food that won’t spoil for the net 30 years is fairly comforting.
The Problem with Zero Gravity
As Chris Hatfield mentioned, the problem with many kinds of food in space is the tendency to crumble. You can’t eat a piece of fresh baked bread or munch on a cookie, because those tiny crumbs are going to fly everywhere. How well is pizza going to work in space? I don’t know about you, but after a few slices of pizza, my plate usually has a couple stray olives at least.
A good way to handle this would be to develop a cheese (or cheese-like substance) that does a better job of holding the ingredients on. Since the pizza ingredients are going to be printed from scratch, there’s no reason you couldn’t dictate a specific consistency for the cheese. And, of course, there won’t be anything to pull the food away from the pizza crust, either – at least, until your teeth sink in.
So, what do you think? Is pizza a viable option in space? Even if they solve all of the logistical complications, there’s still on big question: will artificial pizza ever taste as good?