Human spaceflight beyond Earth orbit will require food production systems that can convert crops to food while in microgravity or partial gravity. To achieve this goal, technologies and systems must be set in place to process grown crops into edible food for crews. Unfortunately, such systems have not yet been fully defined. This paper aims to define potential systems and technologies by reviewing crop post-processing and food preparation used on the ground and how they may be used or modified for use in deep space. In addition, an assessment will be made based on the type of crop and post-processing tools and attributes while factoring mission types and ECLSS constraints. To facilitate the assessment and development of future technologies, there will be a list of applicable standards, requirements, and ECLSS interfaces provided.
Monica Torralba (2024) studied this question.