The Mysore-based Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) has begun work on the technology to prepare food for India’s first astronauts — vyomanauts — who will lift off into space in 2015.
But there’s a dilemma. DFRL scientists don’t know whether the menu should be north Indian or south Indian as the vyomanauts have not yet been selected.
“We have not readied the menu yet. It will depend on who the astronauts are. For instance, if he is a south Indian, we will make items to suit his taste buds,” AS Bawa, director, DFRL, said.
It could be lemon rice or dosas if it is a south Indian vyomanaut, or chapati bites or mixed vegetable for a north Indian. Or, it could be both if one is a north Indian and the other a south Indian, as the Rs12,400-crore maiden mission will carry two vyomanauts 300-400 km into space for a week.
The food will be packed into morsels, so that it’s easy for the vyomanauts to eat. It will not be the conventional method of eating in which food is served on a plate.
In the zero-gravity environs of a spaceship, packaged ready morsels are more convenient as they can be better controlled from floating around and getting lodged in the control panels of the spacecraft.
DFRL scientists are taking a lot of care to ensure the food for the two vyomanauts is palatable.
“Indians like spicy food. Hence, the task is going to be challenging. The food should be palatable for seven days,” a senior scientist working on the mission said.
DFRL had also prepared and packed food for Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to go into space in 1984 on a Soyuz mission of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, the Bangalore-based Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory has been approached by the Indian Space Research Organisation for preparing space suits for the vyomanauts.
“We have the technology to prepare the suits and are ready to make them whenever asked,” RB Srivastava, director, life sciences, Defence Research and Development Organisation, said.
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