Replicators? 3D printers for food

NASA can send robots to Mars, no problem. But if it’s ever going to put humans on the Red Planet, it has to figure out how to feed them over the course of a years-long mission.

So the space agency has funded research for what could be the ultimate nerd solution: a 3D printer that creates entrees or desserts at the touch of a button.

Yes, it’s another case of life imitating Star Trek (remember the food replicator?). In this case, though, the creators hope there is an application beyond deep-space pizza parties. The technology could also be used to feed hungry populations here on Earth.

Texas-based Systems and Materials Research has been selected for a $125,000 grant from NASA to develop a 3D printer that will create “nutritious and flavourful” food suitable for astronauts, according to the company’s proposal. Using a “digital recipe,” the printers will combine powders to produce food that has the structure and texture of, well, actual food.

Including smell [..].

Theoretically, homesick astronauts could even get a care package from Mom: The printer would have the ability to communicate with Earth and receive personalized instructions, or “recipes,” the company said.

“Mom designs a cookie in a computer, sends the cookie to the space shuttle and the son or daughter prints out a cookie at Christmas,” Contractor said in his presentation.