In five days, Aleph Farms will watch as cow cells from its research labs are handed to Eytan Stibbe, the second Israeli to travel to space and the first ever to head to the International Space Station (ISS). Stibbe will be traveling with a SpaceX crew on the Axiom-1 mission, taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in a Falcon 9 rocket on April 6th. Stibbe and the rest of the crew will spend eight days aboard the ISS, orbiting an average altitude of 227 miles above Earth.
Why is an astronaut taking cell cultures from Aleph into outer space? As described by a post published this week on Aleph’s website, the company hopes to understand better the effects of microgravity on two basic processes responsible for muscle tissue formation, which will help them better understand how cow cells can be transformed into the building blocks of steak.
Understanding processes in such an extreme environment, like space, will allow us to eventually develop an automated, closed-loop system that can produce steaks during long-term space missions. Similar to car manufacturers and Formula One, in space, we are developing the most efficient processes under the toughest environments. The processes we are validating in space can then be transferred to our mainstream production on Earth to help us increase efficiencies, and reduce our environmental footprint. Our space program will ultimately help us develop more sustainable and resilient food systems anywhere.
The company is working with SpacePharma, an organization specializing in developing drugs in microgravity environments. SpacePharma has developed a microfluidic device called a Lab-on-a-Chip that feeds the cells and allows them to grow in transport. Once on the ISS, Astronaut Stibbe will transfer the Lab-on-a-Chip into the ICE Cubes platform, which allows scientists on Earth to do research in real-time as images and data are sent from the Lab-on-a-Chip.
Aleph isn’t the only food company looking towards space. Last year NASA announced 28 winners of the first phase of its Deep Space Food Challenge (including one called Space Cow) and announced in January a $1 million prize purse for phase 2. A consortium called Space Foodsphere in Japan is comprised of dozens of Japanese companies as well as JAXA, and last year the group was selected to help develop food systems for long-term stay on the Moon. The European Space Agency put out a call for proposals last year to expand its research around cultured meat in space.
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