NASA granted $200,000 a year to a project that recycles human poop into create food for astronauts.
We can’t say it sounds distasteful since it is not an entirely new concept for astronauts. They are already drinking their own urine aboard the International Space Station. And such a project has been undertaken to ensure a solution to feed its astronauts for the long haul into deep space.
NASA selected eight university-led proposals and turned to Mark Blenner of Clemson University, in South Carolina for the poop-based project where researchers believe using microorganisms, they can turn a very unlikable and unpleasant waste product into something tasty to eat.
In a press release, NASA revealed that the project is named Synthetic Biology for Recycling Human Waste into Food, Nutraceuticals, and Materials: closing the loop for long term space travel.
According to NASA, “This research, in addition to helping astronauts, will also prove to be useful once we live in a post-apocalyptic water-world situation in 20 years or so.”