Eating Well . . . in Space!

Larissa Zhou envisions a future where people don’t just survive in space, they thrive—with hot delicious food to sustain them. As a PhD candidate in materials science and mechanical engineering at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Zhou’s research focuses on improving how humans eat in extreme environments. In this video, she discusses and demonstrates a cooking system for microgravity, which would be the first in history to provide astronauts with fresh pasta in space. Watch her test the device in flight and find out why Zhou thinks better food is critical if humans are ever to explore our solar system—and beyond.