Nasa wants to use urine to create synthetic food for astronauts

NASA has awarded researchers a USD 200,000 grant to figure out how to recycle human waste into synthetic food that could sustain astronauts during extended space journeys. Washington: NASA has awarded researchers a USD 200,000 grant to figure out how to recycle human waste into synthetic food that could sustain astronauts during extended space journeys, including mission to Mars. Mark Blenner, a professor in Clemson University’s chemical and bioengineering department, is genetically engineering yeast to produce things that astronauts might need aboard a spaceship, using urine and breathed-out carbon dioxide as the building blocks to create useful onboard items. Assuming a system can be created to turn breath into lipids using algae, Blenner’s system would grow yeast that could take those lipids and nitrogen and turn them into plastics and Omega 3s.