Space Pizza May Soon be on the Menu

According to a recent article on Khaleejtimes.com, astronauts may soon be able to enjoy a pizza on their way to the space station, thanks to new 3D printing research.

SMRC, a Texas-based materials and technology company, has been contracted by NASA to perfect the task of making pizzas fit for space. Doctor Christopher Daubert and a team of researchers at SMRC are investigating the process, which involves feeding the ingredients into a 3D printer and trying to get them to come out via nozzles in a consistent, pizza-like form.

Doctor Daubert is the Head of the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. He and his team of researchers are focusing in particular on the rheological properties of food, investigating consistency and flow under specified conditions.

The idea of space pizza is not inconceivable, as pizza is a layered food and layers are a specialty of 3D printers. There may, however, be other gravity-related challenges to be overcome once they’ve cracked the way to print the perfect pizza, so a breakthrough may still be some time away yet.