Printing Space Cake with Software

Crewed deep space missions will require innovative cookingmethods in addition to in-situ food production. Automated laser cooking andthree-dimensional (3D) food printing have the potential to be a convenient andspace-effective method for creating eclectic and nutritious dishes on long-termspaceflights. This food-making method can utilize in-situ-produced food as raw materialsfor the bio-ink fed into a 3D printer. The versatility of the ink compositionused to print foods will facilitate adjusting nutrients based on real-time dataon astronauts’ physical conditions and metabolic requirements. As a relativelynascent application of additive manufacturing, some limitations of 3D foodprinters are the total number of ingredients, variation in cook time, and targetedoptimal heating. The lack of a precise heating mechanism limits the ability toprint complex dishes with multiple components, such as meats and grains, with varyingoptimal cooking times.

Jonathan D. Blutinger (Columbia University) and colleagues developed a software-based 3D food printer with laser cooking that uses high-energy targeted light (blue light at 445 nanometers) for precise heating. As a precision heating appliance, the blue laser cooking system used a near-infrared laser operating at 980 nm. They successfully tested this upgraded 3D food printer using an iterative design to assemble a selectively cooked seven-ingredient slice of cake. Combining 3D food printing with laser cooking resulted in a high-precision method to construct user-generated 3D models from edible food. Another group led by Sun M. Kim (Korea University) used a novel approach to print filamentous structures native to imitation crab by using potato starch to adjust the composition of the crab meat mixture. A review published by Long-zhen Zhang recognized the potential of extrusion-based 3D food printing as an innovative method to generate food in space travel and commended additional research for addressing limitations from microgravity, the post-processability of food, and engineering transportation. READ MORE: The future of software-controlled cooking, Preparation and characterization of surimi-based imitation crab meat using coaxial extrusion three-dimensional food printing, and Application and challenges of 3D food printing technology in manned spaceflight: a review.