A low-cost adapter for the rehydration of commercially available food and beverages for spaceflight

Abstract

All current rehydratable food and drink items prepared for U.S. astronauts on missions to the International Space Station (ISS) must be compatible with the station's potable water dispenser, called the rehydration station. This highly validated system ensures that water is compartmentalized and safely transferred to custom-made food and beverage pouches to prevent free-floating food particles and water in microgravity. However, the food and beverages packaged in these single-purpose pouches require complex, time-consuming, and costly procedures before flight, which is not feasible for future commercial space stations seeking more affordable life-support systems. Furthermore, even though a vast number of rehydratable food and beverage items available at supermarkets have appropriate nutritional content and shelf life for spaceflight, their incompatible consumer packaging renders them unusable by astronauts. In this paper, we present a low-cost solution that draws on NASA technology to adapt these commercially developed food and drink items for spaceflight and makes them compatible with the water dispensing unit and consumption in a microgravity environment. The 3D-printed adapter is based on the NASA septum adapter with the addition of a piercing end and one-way barb that stabilizes the adapter inside the food pouch and ensures it is not released due to the force generated by the water when it is dispensed. The dimensions of the adapter are 20.00 (L) x 12.50 (W) x 37.24 (H) mm and the mass is approximately 1.5 g. The design is compatible with at least three types of packaging commonly used for commercially available rehydratable foods: kraft paper and polymer laminate (KP), polymer aluminum laminate (PA), and compostable polymer laminate (CP). Based on these three packages, we present a table of commercial items that could be available to astronauts if the adapter were to be used. To validate the adapter's use in the space environment, we also present data on the structural properties against loads experienced during launch and re-entry, as well as two functionality tests to determine piercing and rehydration effectiveness. The results show that the prototype of the adapter meets structural specifications for spaceflight and can effectively pierce KP and PA materials with minimal tear propagation. The rehydration test with KP showed that the adapter can effectively rehydrate a typical dehydrated food package. In summary, the adapter is an effective method to increase menu diversity while simultaneously eliminating costs associated with space food preparation and re-packaging.