NASA is funding a project to create a "food" 3D printer

In fact, we are talking about the very synthesizer of food products, which has been described in many science fiction works. Of course, our science and technical capabilities have not yet “grown” to the atomic synthesizer of products, but as a replacement we can suggest the creation of a 3D printer that can “print” various kinds of dishes. NASA decided to allocate 125 thousand dollars to develop such a printer.

Even an artist has already been chosen; he was an engineer from Austin, Anjan Contrator (he works at Systems and Materials Research Corporation). Earlier, the same specialist created a 3D printer to create chocolate products. The main hardware served as a printer RepRap.
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The first goal of the project is to create a 3D printer capable of printing pizza. Yes, so far no meatballs, kebabs and other things. Only pizza, because the project is a trial. According to the plan, the printer will use the ingredients stored in powder form in special cartridges. When “printing” different products, these ingredients will be mixed in different proportions, and as a result, the space traveler can enjoy the same pizza, or, for example, cake.



Ingredients can be stored in cartridges up to 30 years. Of course, the ingredients for creating different dishes can be prepared from algae and insects in order to reduce the cost of producing basic components for cosmo cuisine.

According to the developer, printing food can help not only astronauts, but also ordinary people from not very prosperous regions. However, it is too early to talk about “feeding the entire planet” thanks to 3D printing, because the project itself is still in its infancy.

Via time