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Project Title:  Packaged Food Mass Reduction Trade Study Reduce
Fiscal Year: FY 2009 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP SHFH:Space Human Factors & Habitability (archival in 2017)
 Start Date: 10/01/2008  
End Date: 09/30/2009  
Task Last Updated: 08/27/2009 		 Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Perchonok, Michele  Ph.D. / NASA Johnson Space Center 
Address:  Program Science Management Office 
2101 NASA Road 1, Mail Code SF411 
Houston , TX 77058 		 Email: michele.h.perchonok@nasa.gov 
Phone: 281-483-7632  
Congressional District: 22 
Web: http://hefd.jsc.nasa.gov/aft.htm  
 Organization Type: NASA CENTER 
Organization Name: NASA Johnson Space Center 
Joint Agency:  
Comments:  
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
Stoklosa, Adam  LZ Technology, Alvin, TX 
Key Personnel Changes / Previous PI: Adam Stoklosa was Principal Investigator from May-August 2009.
Project Information: 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Woolford, Barbara  
Center Contact: 218-483-3701 
barbara.j.woolford@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 7369  		Solicitation / Funding Source: Directed Research 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: No  		No. of Post Docs: 0 
No. of PhD Candidates: 0 
No. of Master's Candidates: 0 
No. of Bachelor's Candidates: 0  		No. of PhD Degrees: 0 
No. of Master's Degrees: 0 
No. of Bachelor's Degrees: 0 
Human Research Program Elements: (1) SHFH:Space Human Factors & Habitability (archival in 2017)
Human Research Program Risks: None
Human Research Program Gaps: None
Task Description: Future long duration manned space flights beyond low earth orbit will require the food system to remain safe, acceptable and nutritious while efficiently balancing appropriate vehicle resources such as mass, volume, power, water, and crewtime. Often this presents a challenge since maintaining the quality of the food system can result in a higher mass and volume.

The objective of this project is to determine how the mass and volume of the packaged food can be reduced while maintaining caloric and hydration requirements. The Orion vehicle is significantly smaller than the Shuttle vehicle and the International Space Station and the mass and volume available for food is limited. Therefore the food team has been challenged to reduce the mass of the packaged food from 4 pounds per person per day to 2.5 pounds per person per day.

The following tasks are the key elements to this project:

• Conduct further analysis of the ISS Standard Menu to determine moisture, protein, carbohydrate, and fat levels

• Conduct trade studies to determine how to bring the mass down. Trade studies may include removing the water of the total food system and/or increasing the fat content

• Determine the preferred method for delivery of the new food (e.g., bars, or beverages) and the degree of replacement

• Determine whether there are commercially available products that meet the requirements

By the end of this study, an estimate of the mass and volume savings will be provided to the Constellation Program. In addition, if new technologies need to be developed to achieve the mass savings, the technologies, timeline, and budget will be identified at the end of the project.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits:

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2009 
Task Progress: Overall, this study found that significant reductions in food system mass are possible with further menu development. With the reduction of moisture and increase in calories from fat, the system mass decreased by 321 g per crew member per day, or 22%. With the substitution of standard menu items with meal replacement bars, the mass can be reduced by 240 g, or 17%, and is limited to one bar per crew member per day. If both approaches were combined, the mass of the food system can be reduced by as much as 529 g, or 36%. Combining the meal replacement option with the reducing the moisture and increasing fat would have a net reduction from 1.81 kg to 1.28 kg per crew member per day which approaches the overall reduction goal of 1.18 kg.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 01/30/2012) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
 None in FY 2009
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