California startup raised the first “space fish”

A California startup has managed to grow fish meat in a spaceship. This greatly simplifies the task of providing food for astronauts, writes “agroportal.ua“.

Today, it is extremely expensive to send items into space, including food, at about $ 10,000 per pound (about 2.2 kg). The average tuna weighs 20 pounds and will cost over $ 200,000 to get into orbit. This means that astronauts, especially on long missions, must find a way to cook their own meals.

California-based Finless Foods believes it has an answer to this question. The developers have shown that it is possible to grow fish meat using cell culture in a spacecraft. Under special conditions, cells are doubled every 24 hours.

“Fish is one of the healthiest sources of protein on the planet. However, more than 90% of the world’s fisheries are significantly depleting its resources. We are taking the first step into a world where everyone has access to fresh, healthy, tasty and sustainable seafood”, – said Michael Selden, co-founder of Finless Foods.

Finless Foods sent fish muscle cells to the International Space Station last year in collaboration with the Russian mission and 3D Bioprinting Solutions, which provided a 3D bioprinter. The team was able to grow the cells to a certain density and then use a bioprinter to arrange them into three-dimensional structures, forming small spheres of cells. This is the first step towards turning them into something that resembles food.