Dive Summary:
- NASA awarded Systems & Materials Research Corporation a six-month, $125,000 grant for a prototype of mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor's 3D food printer for use during long-distance space travel.
- Contractor envisions a world where his universal food synthesizer is in every kitchen, feeding the world customized meals built layer-by-layer from powder and oil cartridges that remain shelf-stable for 30 years.
- Proteins in the food may even be harvested from insects, as meat and other current food sources will become increasingly unsustainable as Earth approaches its peak population size around the end of this century.
From the article:
... “I think, and many economists think, that current food systems can’t supply 12 billion people sufficiently,” says Contractor. “So we eventually have to change our perception of what we see as food.” ...