Waste Not, Want Not
Researchers from Penn State University believe they’ve found a way to break down waste to grow food for future space missions. And we’re not talking about your run-of-the-mill trash – we’re talking about solid and liquid human waste. According to IFLScience.com, the team used artifical solid and liquid waste to test whether or not human waste could be broken down in microbial reactors to grow food on future space missions.
“We envisioned and tested the concept of simultaneously treating astronauts’ waste with microbes while producing a biomass that is edible either directly or indirectly depending on safety concerns,” study co-author Christopher House said in a statement issued by Penn State. “It’s a little strange, but the concept would be a little bit like Marmite or Vegemite where you’re eating a smear of ‘microbial goo.'” The team found a number of nutritious microbes began to grow during the digestion process.
Read the full study in Life Sciences in Space Research.
