Textural analysis putting food into orbit, says SMS
Stable Micro Systems (SMS) said that NASA's Space Food Systems laboratory, located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, has recently enlisted its TA.XTPlus texture analyser in order to ensure that astronauts are provided with food with optimal appearance, colour, odour, flavour, texture and overall palatability.
Food for space has to be able to withstand the dramatic temperature changes that take place during a mission in addition to the timescales involved.
SMS says its instrumentation will provide valuable, quantifiable feedback on a food’s suitability for space flight and we caught up with the company's applications manager, Jo Smewing, to assess the particular textural requirements of food produced for consumption at zero gravity.
