The Brooklyn-based company “Air company” has created a method for recycling carbon dioxide released by astronauts during flight to make yeast-based foodstuffs for the formation of a protein drink aimed at nourishing astronauts carrying out long-term missions in deep space.

Edited by |Alexander Yaxina

Technology  section -  CJ journalist

Washington - May,30,2023

“It's definitely more nutritious than Tang,” said the company's co-founder and chief technology officer Stafford Sheehan, referring to a powder-based drink made famous in 1962 by John Glenn when he became the first American to orbit the Earth.

Sheehan, who has a Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University, said he originally developed his own carbon conversion technology as a way to produce high-purity alcohol for jet fuel and perfumes.

The NASA-sponsored” deep space food " challenge encouraged Sheehan to modify his invention to produce edible proteins, carbohydrates and fats from the same system.

According to Sheehan, the resulting unicellular protein drink, which entered the NASA competition, has the consistency of a whey protein mixture and tastes similar to “seitan”, a food made from wheat gluten that originated in East Asia and is adopted by vegetarians as a vegetarian alternative to meat.

Beyond protein drinks, the same process can be used to produce other carbohydrate-filled substitutes for the preparation of bread, pasta and tortillas.

"NASA" announced this month the victory of the technology (irmed), with which the company obtained a patent, among eight other technologies in the second stage of its food competition, the prize value of which is 750 thousand dollars.

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