Can a Rediscovered Technology End Famine? Old NASA Studies to the Rescue

In the 1960s and 1970s, NASA investigated ways to grow food for astronauts on long flights. They recycled air and out-performed any plants you ever heard of: 10,000 times more food per area than soybeans. These studies were filed and forgotten for years. Now they’re being rediscovered at a critical point in history.

Hydrogenotrophs, a type of bacteria, live in hot springs, hydrothermal vents, and probably some species are in your gut now. Through a type of fermentation (a process you enjoy if you drink beer or wine, or eat bread or cheese) these little guys brew carbohydrates, proteins, and oils. Build the right sort of bioreactors, use renewable energy sources, and you can grow food for humans (and for livestock too, if you insist.)

Okay, the product looks like flour. The most obvious thing to make as a final output seems to be breads. Get fancy and you could use 3D printers for different textures, maybe add colors or flavorings or herbs. Private companies are pursuing the possibilities, so a lot of details are proprietary, but it sounds promising enough to make my heart go pitter-pat.

Today, we humans are in trouble. Pandemic effects have supply chains in a mess that refuses to unwind, Russia’s war against Ukraine has wrecked the flow of fuels and food staples: along with interruptions of crude oil and natural gas, shortages of wheat and cooking oils could spread global famine. High protein bread sounds real good to me.

Local power from solar or wind would reduce reliance on fuels shipped across the world and replace long distance grids subject to terrorist attack. Multi-story structures to house the bioreactors limits the footprint needed, but if land is more available than building materials, spreading out is an option.

We stand on the cusp of a new era. Today’s disasters will deliver a future different from what we imaged only a couple years ago. Will fragile global supply chains be forever localized? Will the basics of survival exist inside every country’s borders? Will we stop decimating rain forests to grow palm oil plantations? Will farming and raising livestock change forever?

Like cresting the top of the first rise in a roller coaster… here we go.