Technologies

How to Feed Astronauts Bound for Mars? Try Protein Made Out of Thin Air

It’s a long trip to the red planet and space is tight, but eating well could require just a few simple ingredients.

There are no grocery stores on Mars, and resupply from Earth is many months away. As much food as future astronauts to the red planet may pack for the trip, inevitably, they’ll have to create some food of their own in an inhospitable environment. Whether they go the fanciful farm-to-table route with locally sourced potatoes, like Matt Damon’s character did in the 2015 film The Martian, remains to be seen. But they may have an even more science-forward option.

Creating protein out of thin air.

That’s the goal of a partnership between the European Space Agency and a company called Solar Foods, formed out of a scientific research program less than a decade ago, which opened its first large-scale production facility in 2024.

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The project, dubbed HOBI-WAN (for “hydrogen oxidizing bacteria in weightlessness as a source of nutrition”) in a nod to the Star Wars movies, is an outer space version of a process that Solar Foods has been working on already here on Earth. That effort involves growing bacteria in a vat with water, air and nutrients, and then drying out the bacteria, turning them into a protein powder called Solein for human consumption.

A key next step will be to test Solein production on the International Space Station.

“Providing a sustainable and nutritious food supply which meets the energy requirements of the crew is one of the biggest challenges in human spaceflight exploration beyond low Earth orbit,” ESA said in a blog post. “In cases where pre-deployed food depots or continuous resupply missions from Earth are impractical, resource-heavy, or technically unfeasible, cost-effective alternatives are required.”

Making protein powder from air

The central goal of the HOBI-WAN project is to determine whether production of the protein-rich powder can take place in microgravity conditions.

The process is complex, but essentially it’ll be letting nature take its course.

“Solar Foods produces Solein by a process called gas fermentation,” Arttu Luukanen, the company’s senior vice president of space and defense, tells me. The gas fermentation process, he says, creates single-celled organisms that feed on hydrogen gas and use it to “sequester” carbon. From there, the bacteria are fed “minerals of life” such as ammonia as a nitrogen and hydrogen source.

All the ingredients go into a bioreactor along with water and gases that are pumped in “a bit like a big SodaStream,” Luukanen says. This provides the bacteria with the proper environment to reproduce, which they do very quickly. Once the bacteria have reproduced to a sufficient quantity, they’re harvested. Some of it is set aside to seed the next round in the bioreactor, while the rest is thoroughly dried and pasteurized.

These dried and pasteurized bacteria form the Solein product, which is composed of 78% protein, 6% fat (primarily unsaturated), 10% dietary fiber, 2% carbohydrates and 4% mineral nutrients. Luukanen says the powder can be flavored in any number of ways and on its own imparts “a very mild flavor of umami.”

But can it work in space?

Solein production will be harder to do in space. The weightless environment, plus the limited cargo capacity and reduced space for the bioreactor, add challenges that ESA and Solar Foods believe they can solve.

“[The] main difference for the experiment onboard the ISS is the lack of gravity, which means there is no buoyancy, which alters greatly how liquids and gases behave,” Luukanen says. The other challenge is limited physical space. Solar Foods uses bioreactors that can hold 20,000 liters or more, while the bioreactor heading to the ISS will be significantly smaller — a “few tens of liters.”

Extra steps will be required for gas safety, process monitoring, quality assurance and maintainability, as there won’t be bioprocess engineers on board to babysit the process. The product made in space also won’t be dried into a powder, at least not at the ISS. In the event of a leak, having a cloud of powder floating around in a zero-gravity environment wouldn’t be ideal.

So in space, Solein will likely be served up as a paste.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

The last big factor is the ingredients. They’ll have to be altered to account for the lack of resources available in a long-term space flight. Recycling has long been a key component of living in space, and that’ll be true for Solein production.

That means using CO2 from crew respiration and recycling the hydrogen gas made when the ISS uses electrolysis to turn water into oxygen for the crew. On Earth, making Solein requires a lot of water.

There will also be substitutions, such as using urea instead of ammonia, since ammonia would be dangerous if there were an accident. But that doesn’t mean that astronauts will be using urine like they do for “recycled coffee.”

“On Earth, we use ammonia, but for the ESA project, we’ve decided to use synthetic urea instead, mainly because it is not potentially hazardous like ammonia is if there is a spill,” Luukanen says. “Recovering the urea from urine is in principle possible, but given the small portion of urea needed, it may not make sense, especially if the urea extraction from urine involves complex and heavy equipment.”

How long could this process feed astronauts?

A trip to Mars is a much bigger time commitment than an excursion to the moon. NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission will see astronauts circle the moon for the first time in nearly half a century, but the trip will last only 10 days. In terms of food, it’s not that big of a deal. For missions like Escapade, where two satellites will travel to Mars, the trip will take two years. Heading to the red planet, astronauts will need to pack more than a picnic.

Should the Solein project prove successful, the amount of food it generates could theoretically feed a team of astronauts for hundreds of days while using much less cargo space than today’s space meals. Luukanen says that, as the project is being designed, the only thing astronauts would need to carry would be mineral salts, and they wouldn’t need that much.

“Even for a five-[person] crew, 900-day mission to Mars, we are talking of [less than]100 kilograms of mineral salts,” he says.

Other technologies may also help recycle nitrogen and minerals, which would allow astronauts to reuse those materials onsite, further extending food supply.

Using the protein powder, astronauts could make all sorts of food with the right additional ingredients. Luukanen says Solar Foods has developed recipes ranging from ice cream to cream cheese ravioli. Some of them were showcased during NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge, which highlighted methods for long-term food solutions, including a no-light food-growing method called Nolux and a closed ecosystem that can autonomously grow food and maintain insects for use in an astronaut’s diet.

It might not be what you’d expect from a Michelin-starred restaurant or even your neighborhood deli, but it’ll likely be better than a steady diet of Mars-grown baked potatoes.

Technologies

Passengers and crew foil co-pilot’s apparent attempt to crash FlyDubai flight to Israel

One of the pilots on a FlyDubai flight headed for Israel stabbed the second pilot, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On-duty flight crew and passengers managed to foil a pilot’s apparent attempt to crash a FlyDubai flight, after reports emerged of a fight in the cockpit.

The incident on flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv happened when a co-pilot stabbed a pilot, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who praised the victim’s quick thinking.

“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker — preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster. He saved the lives of 174 people, including Israeli citizens and other nationals,” Netanyahu wrote in a post on X.

FZ1073 was diverted to the Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia, the airline said, after being successfully secured and diverted by flight crew.

FlyDubai in a statement said that an “altercation” occurred on the flight deck of the plane, but did not mention a stabbing.

However, the airline added that the underlying reasons and motives for the clash is currently unknown, urging all parties to refrain from speculation.

The injured pilot was identified by Netanyahu as Indian national Smit Machchhar. No details have been released on the identity of the attacker, except that he was being interrogated by Saudi authorities.

The Indian embassy in Riyadh said on X that Machchhar is in a hospital in Tabuk, and is reported to be in stable condition.

The Israeli Prime Minister also identified the passenger who broke into the cockpit as Yaniv Hayun, calling him a “hero” and adding he deserved “a global medal of honor.”

Flight data from tracking site FlightRadar24 showed that the plane had experienced extreme altitude fluctuations before broadcasting a “general emergency” squawk code.

FZ1073 had dropped from over 14,000 feet in just 29 seconds, and FlightRadar24 also added that vertical speeds ranging from approximately -30,000 to +10,000 feet per minute were observed from the transponder data.

For context, vertical speeds during normal operations rarely exceed plus or minus 4,000 feet per minute, it added.

Technologies

South Korean President Lee resists Alaska LNG project after Trump highlights Seoul’s involvement

South Korean President Lee Jae‑myung has conditioned his country’s participation in the Alaska LNG project on financial viability and legal compliance, pushing back against President Trump’s push for the $50‑billion venture while other $200‑billion U.S. investments move forward.

South Korea’s $200 billion investment in the United States, which President Donald Trump said would transform America “for generations,” is not yet finalized in full.

The South Korean investment blueprint includes nuclear power plants, a natural‑gas power facility in Texas, and potentially the long‑planned Alaska liquefied natural gas project.

Trump posted on Truth Social late Wednesday that the two nations had agreed to move forward on the Alaska LNG venture, estimating its value at $50 billion. This prompted a response from South Korean President Lee Jae‑myung, who stressed that participation in some projects remains tied to commercial considerations.

In an X post Thursday local time, Lee said that involvement in the Alaska LNG project hinges on its financial viability and legal compliance. He added that investments in nuclear power plants would also require a plant‑by‑plant assessment of commercial feasibility.

The US‑South Korea joint statement Wednesday also noted that work on the project is contingent on “commercial reasonableness,” without detailing allocations toward the venture.

The Alaska LNG project aims to move natural gas roughly 1,300 km (800 miles) from fields on Alaska’s North Slope to the state’s southern region, where it would be liquefied for export to markets including Asia, according to Yonhap. The initiative has long faced scrutiny over its economics, given the substantial upfront capital required.

Industry Minister Kim Jung‑kwan labeled it “high‑risk” last year and said participation would be challenging unless the project could generate sufficient cash flow.

Overall, the investment package allocates $22.3 billion for a 6,472‑megawatt natural‑gas power plant in Encinal, Texas, which will supply electricity to nearby data centers. The venture will be led by developer Related Cos. and U.S. power provider NextEra Energy.

Trump said the investments would turn South Korea’s commitments into “huge construction projects” and create “tens of thousands of American jobs.”

“These are massive energy projects, adding power capacity in the United States,” Trump remarked. “This is new construction, new manufacturing, and great jobs for American workers.”

The two countries said they would seek to broaden Korean firms’ involvement in the Texas project across equipment supply, engineering, construction, and long‑term operations and maintenance. The U.S. also plans to give Korean companies opportunities to supply equipment, including turbines, for similar projects domestically.

Another $120 billion has been earmarked for plans to build eight large‑scale nuclear reactors in the United States. Of that sum, $100 billion is designated for construction costs and $20 billion for contingency reserves.

The nuclear accord was signed by both governments as well as Westinghouse Electric, Korea Electric Power Corp., and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. The plan also calls for Korean firms to pursue a potential significant minority stake in Westinghouse, with terms subject to commercial negotiations.

Technologies

Washington’s big crypto bill is stuck. The SEC is pushing ahead anyway

The SEC has proposed new rules that would make it easier for investment advisers and regulated funds to hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of clients.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules that would make it easier for investment advisers and regulated funds to hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of clients, as U.S. regulators push ahead with writing crypto rules after a sweeping legislation stalled in Congress.

The proposal, announced Thursday stateside, would establish a tailored framework governing how registered investment advisers, investment companies and business development companies hold custody of crypto assets.

The changes are aimed at modernizing decades-old custody requirements and removing regulatory barriers that the SEC says have limited advisers’ ability to offer crypto-related investments.

Under the proposed rules, crypto assets could be held in self-custody under “certain circumstances,” while state trust companies could also serve as custodians for crypto assets belonging to clients and regulated funds.

The changes could also give regulated funds greater scope to offer investors crypto-related investment strategies, according to the SEC.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said existing regulations had failed to keep pace with the rapid expansion of digital assets, which have grown into a multi-trillion-dollar market.

“Today’s proposal would provide a clear regulatory framework for the custody of crypto assets, giving investment advisers and funds a compliant pathway where none existed before,” Atkins said.

The proposal comes as U.S. regulators push ahead with building out a crypto rulebook under their existing authority after the Clarity Act, a sweeping crypto market structure bill, stalled in the Senate in September.

That marks another step in the SEC’s broader effort to rewrite the U.S. regulatory framework for digital assets under Atkins, and will be open for public comment for 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

With broader crypto legislation stalling in Congress, regulators are exerting their existing powers to address individual parts of the market, said Jeff Ko, chief analyst at blockchain infrastructure service provider ViaBTC.

“What we’re increasingly seeing is the SEC using the authority it already has to solve individual bottlenecks one by one, issuance, tokenization, trading exemptions and now custody,” he told CNBC via email.

The regulatory push also comes as crypto markets show signs of renewed momentum following a volatile start to the year. Bitcoin has rebounded over 40% from its July low, as improving risk appetite have helped revive demand for digital assets.

The recovery follows a prolonged downturn from late 2025 into the first half of 2026.