SpaceBanter.com - View Single Post - NASA declines to protect the Planet Earth

**pete[_1_]** · August 23rd 06, 12:44 AM posted to sci.environment,sci.space.policy,sci.physics

In sci.space.policy, on Mon, 21 Aug 06 10:10:37 GMT, sez:
` In article ,
` (pete) wrote:
` In sci.space.policy, on Mon, 14 Aug 06 09:58:53 GMT, sez:
`
` [last post in an interesting subthread on breadmaking in space]

` Yea. I forgot to remember the thread when I made some Tuesday.
` My method is to "watch" how I do stuff while trying to put it
` into the context of the thought experiment. I should have
` been paying attention when I was wrestling with the dough.
` And mixing would be interesting.

`
` Missed this discussion, vacationing.

` Yea. That's why we didn't care to go on vacation from work;
` we might miss something.

` There is a confluence of
` issues here to do with the many requirements for space food,
` which seem to me to include
`
` - compact storage
` - ease of preparation

` But do you want it "easy"? Remember this is a boring trip. I
` would think that cooking would be one of the few useful tasks
` that would allieviate boredom.

` - minimum mass (I don't think much can be done here with the food
` itself, as there is a minimum requirement, and when you include
` the water content, that's hard to reduce, but you can potentially
` do things to reduce the mass of the preparation equipment)
` - palatability
` - variety
` - nutritional content - this includes the well known obvious items
` like protein, fat, carbs, fibre, vitamins, minerals, and EFAs,
` but also less obvious things like enzymes and similar beneficial
` chemicals present in fresh foods

` And the unknowns. How do you provide the unknowns in the recipes
` if you don't know they are needed?

`
` What occurs to me as being a great food resource for meeting many
` of these requirements is seed used for sprouting. Sprouts have
` _much_ higher food value than the originating seeds, but are far
` simpler to generate than full blown hydroponic farmed plants -
` just add water and wait a couple of days. For extra benefit,
` expose to sunlight for a day before consumption. Sprouted grains can
` be blended and used for making bread. I don't know if this is now
` common in every market, but locally here, if you read the ingredients
` on about a third of the "healthier" (ie I'm not talking about
` wonderbread) loaves on the store shelves, you will find "contains
` no flour, made from 100% sprouted grains", and these loaves look
` and taste pretty much similar to regular wholegrain breads, except
` perhaps more flavourful. Seeds are obviously compact, dehydrated,
` well suited for cargo - they are more resistant to spoilage than
` prepared flour, unless the flour has been depleted of valuable
` nutrients.
`
` A wide variety of seeds - grains, legumes, pulses - and a wide
` variety of seed and sprout preparation techniques, from bread to
` chow mein to salad to soups and stews, provides a potential for
` great variety in meals, all with relatively simple preparation
` requirements. Sure it's more involved than putting the pack of
` frozen entree in the microwave, but it's not something requiring
` exotic hardware, either. Nor would I try to suggest that it would
` be the sole food source; a major component, though.

` An example that testing and refining over billions of years
` should produce more efficiency.

` YOu can't have any bugs or rats on the ship. How difficult
` would that be? If you irradiate the seed to kill any future
` meat residing in the seed, will it sprout?

I'm not sure, but I suspect not. After all, you are trying to kill
single bacterial cells, so what chance does a single plant-germ
cell have? Note, however, regarding bugs of the larger variety,
that back in the age of sail, it was expected on long sea voyages
that the biscuits carried along would get maggots - that elevated
the nutrient value far beyond the basic white flour content.

I think, however, that the issue of keeping seed dry and safe from
pests is pretty well solved for periods in the order of one or two
years, otherwise where would next year's crop seed come from. Longer
times might require more clever tricks, but I know that some of those
already exist, such as flooding silos with CO2 or something similar,
which asphixiates bugs without leaving any toxic residuals.

--
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Pete Vincent
Disclaimer: all I know I learned from reading Usenet.