Silkworms: The New Tang

The crazy Chinese scientists responsible for the feeding and care of Taikonauts have come up with a new wrinkle in space-based cuisine–silkworms. Honestly, folks, I couldn’t have made this one up if I tried.

As environmental scientist Hong Liu of Beihang University in Beijing and colleagues explained online 24 December in Advances in Space Research, the insects breed quickly, require little space and water, and generate only small amounts of excrement, which could serve as fertilizer. Plus, silkworm pupae are mostly protein, the team reported, and when it comes to essential amino acids, they contain twice as much as pork does and four times as much as eggs and milk. Even the insect’s inedible silk, which makes up 50% of the weight of the dry cocoon, could provide nutrients: The material can be rendered edible through chemical processing and can be mixed with fruit juice, sugar, and food coloring to produce jam, the researchers reported.

I am interested in the fact that China is considering micro ecosystems that would be sustainable for long journeys. That tells me that they, at least, are considering how they are going to reach out to the stars in the next fifty years or so. Our own studies have considered fish, chicken, and even pigs, but given the space constraints on a probable Mars mission, all have been rejected as too sensitive or too expensive in terms of mass. 

My only question: How exactly is the silk “chemically processed” to make the jam?