MOSCOW: Theprospect of astronauts tucking into a roast dinner has grown slightly closerafter a successful experiment used a 3D printer to create meat on theInternational Space Station. The bioprinter produced beef, rabbit and fishtissue using magnetic fields in microgravity, a Russian medical technologycompany involved in the experiment said.
The experiment -- an international collaboration involving US, Russian andIsraeli companies -- was carried out in September by cosmonaut Oleg Skripochkain the station's Russian segment using a 3D printer developed in Moscow. Thecreators say it is the first to create a small amount of artificial meat inconditions of weightlessness. "It's one small nibble for man, one giantbite for mankind," said Yusef Khesuani of 3D Bioprinting Solutions, theRussian laboratory that created the bioprinter. The laboratory was founded byInvitro, a large Russian private medicine company.
The Roscosmos space agency part-financed the experiment as of nationalimportance. "It was really a breakthrough both for Roscosmos and Russia asa whole," said Nikolai Burdeiny, executive director of the state spacecorporation, which includes Roscosmos. "For us it was the first experienceof international scientific collaboration in space," Khesuani said, usingcells provided by Israeli and US food-tech companies. "Thank God theexperiment went successfully... All the cells showed a good result inspace," he added.
Astronauts eat meat on board that is vacuum-packed or dried on Earth but thistechnology could ultimately be necessary for long voyages into deep space, saidveteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko. "If we're going to fly further fromEarth to other planets in the solar system, we can't take that volume of foodwith us," he said. "In any case we will have to grow and produce foodonboard the spaceship." "I think progress is developing very quickly,science and knowledge, and I think this will be within our lifetimes," hesaid.
Creating larger amounts of meat in the Russian segment will need more complexequipment than the current printer, said Khesuani. "Then we can create notjust small objects but big ones, made of a large mass of cells." "Ihope we will continue these experiments." Other space agencies are alsocarrying out experiments in this area as making human tissue in space is easierthan in conditions of gravity. An American 3D printer launched to the stationin July can manufacture human tissue and is also being used for experiments bythe European Space Agency. - AFP