future food for chinese cosmonauts: silkworms

jan 15th, 2009

as is well-known, the chinese will eat anything.

from 'good morning silicon valley'

Just wash 'em down with some Tang and try not to think about it: Chinese researchers looking at the challenges we'll face when the length of our space missions reaches into years have come up with a suggestion that addresses astronauts' needs for both protein and fresh, luxurious bedsheets: silkworms. With space at premium on a spaceship, some forms of animal protein, like fowl, fish and cattle, have been judged impractical on long trips. Not so with silkworms, says a team led by environmental scientist Hong Liu of Beihang University in a new paper. The little buggers breed quickly, require little room or water, and generate only small amounts of excrement, which could be repurposed as fertilizer. And silkworm pupae, already on the menu in parts of China, are mostly protein, with twice the essential amino acids of pork, four times those in milk and eggs. Even the silk in the cocoons can be processed into something that can be mixed with fruit juice, sugar and food coloring to produce a sort of jam. In a diet with a three-to-one ratio of plant to animal protein, Liu's team figures, each astronaut would need to consume 170 silkworm pupae and cocoons a day. A high fiber diet, indeed.