One day, European astronauts will enjoy a tasty gourmet meal on Mars. However, explorers on Earth have already tucked into such space food delicacies such as swordfish, duck with capers and Thai chicken.
This summer, Frenchmen Olivier Pezeron and Arnaud Fauvet set out on an exhausting 20-day expedition to ski 600 km across the Greenland ice cap. Skiing for 10 hours a day, they had to pull heavy sledges while enduring strong winds and temperatures that stayed below minus 5° C.
Much of their food was high on calories – needed for strength and stamina. But the 100 kg of luggage stacked on the sledges also included a variety of space food prepared by the Alain Ducasse Formation.
The delicious meals were particularly appreciated when bad weather struck on 11 June. Battling a 110 km/h wind, the men advanced just 9 km in one day.
“That night we decided to make a special dinner, a real ‘space-meal’ to cheer us up. It was truly good and gave us a needed moment of laughter and relaxation,” said Pezeron.
“This expedition gave us another opportunity to have our space food evaluated by people under stress, living in hostile environments similar to those experienced by astronauts,” said Pierre Brisson, head of ESA’s Technology Transfer and Promotion office.
ESA’s space food was previously tested during the long distance Dakar car rally in 2003. Earlier this year, it was enjoyed by 12 women taking part in the ESA/CNES 60-day bed-rest study.
