New York: Shortage of food during long space journeys have often been bothersome for astronauts.
To ensure that space travellers do not go hungry in space because of the limited amount of dried food they can carry, scientists have come up with an amazing solution.
In a study published in The International Journal of Astrobiology, scientists have suggested that astronauts can munch on asteroids when on long space flights.
No, scientists do not want astronauts to eat rocks. According to the new idea, space travellers can break down the carbon content of the asteroids and turn it into something edible.
Annemiek Waajen of Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam conducted a separate research and fed pieces of meteorite that fell on Earth to microbes.
In the research published in the journals Astrobiology and Scientific Reports, Dr Waajen noted that the microbes grew after consuming the rocks.
Based on this evidence, Dr Pearce and his team zeroed in on the theory that when carbon content of meteorites can support the growth of microbes, it can definitely support an astronaut for at least 600 years.
