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Four Month Mars Food Study Wraps Up
After four months in a mock space habitat in Hawaii, participants in a study to determine how best to feed astronauts (HI-SEAS) on a mission to Mars emerged yesterday. A few days ago, the mission commander was interviewed in Astrobiology Magazine, noting the most successful foods: "There's also been a lot of really good cooked dishes. Some of our crew members are accomplished cooks, and every week there are different surprises. Some success meals were Russian borscht, Moroccan tagine, enchilasagna, seafood chowder, and fabada asturiana. Wraps work really well: we combine tortillas, different vegetables, Velveeta cheese, and sausage or canned fish into ever-changing combinations. This is actually in line with the success of tortillas at the ISS. In general, the dehydrated and freeze-dried vegetables are a real success. They're used on a daily basis in almost every meal."
The crew kept weblogs, and did other things than just sit around and eat: some studied robotics and they went on a few simulated EVAs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(chocolate_bar)
Velveeta cheese
That should quickly solve the overpopulation issue inherent to the one-way nature of the trip but will complicate logistics by requiring far greater amounts of toilet paper...
Really, they're thinking about Velveeta? For Burritos? On Mars? In an Airtight bubble?
Some success meals were Russian borscht ...
Even Russian robots don't eat borscht. They do better on electricity from solar cells. The engines may require a different diet.
Hold it, you were thinking of sending ugly bags of mostly water? Why? What is this, the Rube Goldberg Mars Exploration contest?
Never send a man to do a robot's job.
You normally go camping for four months at a time, and do all your shopping before you leave, smartass?
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Why are they wasting time with all these studies? Just send Bear Grylls, he'll find some way to survive.
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
There are pretty substantial variations in intestinal normal flora between individuals (non-human cells in your body outnumber the human ones about 10-1, and many of them live in the gut), so that would be my guess. I'm not nearly enough microbiologist to suggest which organisms or strains are involved; but gut bacteria are a significant variable (since they vary based on where you were first innoculated with them, internal competition between organisms, antibiotics you've taken, etc.) that changes markedly faster than any human genetic or epigenetic component does.
While it may taste great, fabada asturiana is very famous for its farting production capacity (as most meals that contain beans). Now imagine that in a spaceship... yep, recipe for disaster!
Or a nifty way to top up the fuel tank :)
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
They should send up a copy of the book, "To Serve Man", just in case.
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
Gut flora.
Basically the gas from beans is produced by bacteria breaking down oligosaccharides that your digestive system can't break down as easily. You may have different bacteria or a smaller amount of the same bacteria than someone who is more gassy.
Jules: Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese on Mars?
Brett: No.
Jules: It's still called a quarter pounder with cheese because Mars was colonized by America and you know we had to have that shit our way.
Vincent: Also, a quarter pound burger is as big as your head but just don't ask where the meat comes from.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. -HLM
Day 1. Algae slurry.
Day 2. Algae slurry.
...
...
Day N. Algae slurry.
Day N+1 Algae slurry.
Lack of exposure, mostly.
If you don't eat something like that regularly, your body has a hell of a time trying to deal with it. If you haven't built up the right stuff to digest it, some of those starches cause some pretty unpleasant side effects. As a long-ish term vegetarian, I've definitely found I have to go through a periodic adjustment period to something new. And it can definitely be a little toxic.
It's like spicy food ... if you eat it all the time, your body can probably deal with it. If you don't, well, you might need some aloe the next day. ;-)
Lost at C:>. Found at C.