Tofu bacon, peanut butter cookies and French fries: Nasa menu 示唆するs 火星 宇宙飛行士s may be too fat to get out of 要約する／（宇宙ロケットの）カプセル on arrival

Cooper's menus sound calculated to 確実にする the 宇宙飛行士s don't go undernourished .

'A typical breakfast menu for our 温室 system would 含む pancakes. There's a tofu bacon recipe, where you have tofu and you're able to make a bacon 代用品，人. 緊急発進するd eggs are also on the menu.

'For lunch, they could 潜在的に have a marinated tomato salad …を伴ってd by, perhaps, a soup, 甘い potato fries. And then, for dinner, tofu mushroom stroganoff …を伴ってd by a spinach bread and a nice dessert, such as a spice caramel coffee cake or a ultimate lemon cake, et cetera.

'As we were looking at the food items on the menu, we were very conscious to choose foods that we would consider 慰安 foods at home. So there's a garlic mashed potatoes on the menu. There is a French fry item on the menu. There's a peanut butter cookie.'

We didn't want everything on the menu to be so foreign that it would 強める any feelings of alienation that they may experience while they're on 火星.

Lockheed ツバメ associate 研究 scientist Monica Leong, bakes a vegan pizza from a recipe developed for a 使節団 to 火星

'火星 is different ju st because it's so far away,' said Maya Cooper, 上級の 研究 scientist with Lockheed ツバメ who is 主要な the 成果／努力s to build the menu. 'We don't have the 選択 to send a 乗り物 every six months and send more food as we do for International Space 駅／配置する.'

宇宙飛行士s who travel to the space 駅／配置する have a wide variety of food 利用できる to them, some 100 or so different 選択s 含むing ice cream.

But it is all pre-用意が出来ている and 凍結する-乾燥した，日照りのd with a shelf life of at least two years. And while 宇宙飛行士s （不足などを）補う a パネル盤 that tastes the food and gives it a final 承認する on Earth before it 爆破s off, the 欠如（する） of gravity means smell - and taste - is impaired. So the food is bland.

On 火星 though, there is a little gravity, 許すing 航空宇宙局 to consider 重要な changes to the 現在の space menu. That's where Cooper's team comes in. Travel to 火星 opens the 可能性 that 宇宙飛行士s can do things like chop vegetables and do a little cooking of their own. Even though 圧力 levels are different than on Earth, scientists think it will be possible to boil water with a 圧力 cooker, too.

Lockeed ツバメ 研究 scientist Maya Cooper, left, and Monica Leon g, 権利, 準備する a vegan pizza

One 選択 Cooper and her staff in the Johnson Space 中心 in Houston are considering is having the 宇宙飛行士s care for a 'Martian 温室'.

They would have a variety of fruits and vegetables - from carrots to bell peppers - in a hydroponic 解答, meaning they would be 工場／植物d in mineral-laced water instead of 国／地域.

The 宇宙飛行士s would care for their garden and then use those 成分s, 連合させるd with others, such as nuts and spices brought from Earth, to 準備する their meals.

'That menu is 都合のよい because it 許すs the 宇宙飛行士s to actu 同盟（する） have live 工場／植物s that are growing, you have optimum nutrient 配達／演説／出産 with fresh fruits and vegetables, and it 現実に 許すs them to have freedom of choice when they're 現実に cooking the menus because the food isn't already pre-用意が出来ている into a particular recipe,' Cooper said.

The 最高の，を越す 優先 is to 確実にする that the 宇宙飛行士s get the proper 量 of nutrients, calories and minerals to 持続する their physical health and 業績／成果 for the life of the 使節団, Cooper said.

The menu must also 確実にする the psychological health of the 宇宙飛行士s, Cooper explained, 公式文書，認めるing 熟考する／考慮するs have shown that eating 確かな foods - such as meatloaf and mashed potatoes or turkey on Thanksgiving - 改善する people's mood and give them satisfaction.

The scientist hope the 宇宙飛行士s will be able to cook during their 18-month stay on 火星

That 'link to home' will be 重要な for 宇宙飛行士s on the 火星 使節団, and there are 現在／一般に two academic 熟考する／考慮するs looking その上の into the 関係 between mood and food. 欠如（する）ing 確かな ビタミンs or minerals can also 害（を与える） the brain, she said.

Jerry Linenger, a retired 宇宙飛行士 who spent 132 days on the ロシアの Mir space 駅／配置する in 1997, said food is important for 意気込み／士気 and the monotony of eating the same thing day after day is difficult.

'You just 手配中の，お尋ね者 something different. I didn't care if it was something I wouldn't eat in a million years on Earth. If it was different, I would eat it,' Linenger said, 解任するing with a laugh how he would even drink up a ロシアの sour milk-like concoction for breakfast or drink up some borscht because it 申し込む／申し出d variety.

Already, Cooper's team of three has come up with about 100 recipes, all vegetarian because the 宇宙飛行士s will not have 酪農場 or meat 製品s 利用できる. It isn't possible to 保存する those 製品s long enough to take to 火星 - and bringing a cow on the 使節団 is not an 選択, Cooper jokes.

To 確実にする the vegetarian diet packs the 権利 量 of protein, the 研究員s are designing a variety of dishes that 含む tofu and nuts, 含むing a Thai pizza that has no cheese but is covered with carrots, red peppers, mushrooms, scallions, peanuts and a homemade sauce that has a sp icy kick.

To keep this menu going, and get the most out of any 研究 about food sustainability on 火星, Cooper says it's possible 航空宇宙局 will choose to have one 宇宙飛行士 単独で 献身的な to 準備するing the food - the Emeril of the 火星 使節団.

Still, since it remains 不明瞭な how much time 使節団 planners will want to spend on food 準備, Cooper is also building an 補欠／交替の／交替する pre-一括d menu, 類似の to how things are done for 乗組員s that do six-month stints on the International Space 駅／配置する. For this 選択, though, the food will need to have a five-year shelf life compared with the two years 利用できる now. 航空宇宙局, the Department of 弁護 and a variety of other 機関s are 研究ing ways to make that possible, Cooper said.

The ideal, though, would be to 連合させる the two 選択s.

"So they would have some fresh 刈る and some food that we would send from Earth," Cooper said.
One of the biggest 障害s, at the moment, may be the 予算上の 強制s. 大統領 Barack Obama's 予算 提案 in February 取り消すd a 共同の US-European robotic 使節団 to 火星 in 2016, and the 残り／休憩（する） of 航空宇宙局's 予算 has also been chopped.

At the moment, Michele Perchonok, 前進するd food 科学（工学）技術 事業／計画（する） scientist at 航空宇宙局, said about $1 million on 普通の／平均（する） is spent 毎年 on 研究ing and building the 火星 menu. 航空宇宙局's 全体にわたる 予算 in 2012 is more than $17 billion. She is 希望に満ちた that as the 使節団 gets closer - about 10 to 15 years before 開始する，打ち上げる - that the 予算 will grow, 許すing for more in-depth, conclusive 研究.

The 使節団 is important: It will give scientists the chance for unique 研究 on everything from looking for other life forms and for the origin of life on Earth to the 影響s of 部分的な／不平等な gravity on bone loss. It also will let food scientists 診察する the question of sustainability. "How do we 支える the 乗組員, 100 パーセント 再生利用するing of everything for that two and a half years?" Perchonok said.

But first things first: 非，不，無 of this will happen without food.