In "Heavenly Palace", how do astronauts drink a cup of hot soy milk?
From the outside, "Space Soy Milk" is more like a fully sealed bag of vegetable and fruit puree.
Different from the soymilk formed by directly adding water to the soybeans, "Space Soymilk" does not need to be crushed. It is a dregs-free soymilk powder produced on the ground.
This kind of soy milk powder can be directly brewed with the suitable temperature purified water flowing out of the water dispenser, and there is no heating problem.
The three astronauts of Shenzhou 13 are about to successfully complete their mission and return to the ground.
For Li Gong, he not only looks forward to the triumph of the astronauts, but also pays attention to their diet in space.
Li Gong is the deputy chief designer of the Space Kitchen Project Department of Joyoung Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Joyoung).
He and his colleagues either led or participated in the development of 4 sets of technologies to enter the "Heavenly Palace" to provide astronauts with life support.
The four sets of technologies are hot air heating device, drinking water dispenser, "space soy milk" and intelligent IoT control app.
In the "Heavenly Palace", the hot air heating device is used to heat aerospace food and make yogurt, the drinking water dispenser is used to filter out silver-containing raw water and quantitatively supply the astronauts with drinking water, the smart app is used to control all kitchen products in the space station, and the "space soy milk" Can be brewed in space environment.
Eating and drinking well in space is not easy
From the outside, "Space Soy Milk" is more like a fully sealed bag of vegetable and fruit puree.
Different from the soymilk formed by directly adding water to the soybeans, "Space Soymilk" does not need to be crushed. It is a dregs-free soymilk powder produced on the ground.
This kind of soy milk powder can be directly brewed with the suitable temperature purified water flowing out of the water dispenser, and there is no heating problem.
Behind the launch of "Space Soymilk" is a three-in-one technology that meets the requirements of "Breaking Level 2, Space Food Chemical Pollution Requirements and Sensory Evaluation Level A", which not only ensures the space quality of "Space Soymilk" in terms of safety, nutrition and taste , and obtained the national invention patent.
If you want to drink soy milk, you must have water, and in the space environment, the water temperature control should be precise and the water speed control should be more stable.
It is understood that air bubbles are easily generated in the water flow in a weightless environment, and it is necessary to precisely control the water outlet speed to ensure uniform water outlet and avoid the formation of air bubbles.
An engineer from Joyoung told reporters that in the space station, the astronauts' drinking water and eating are not only affected by the space environment, but also to avoid microbial contamination.
Research shows that 84 kinds of microorganisms have been found on the International Space Station, and they come from various sources, including those carried by the crew, carried by the materials and equipment in the space station, introduced during the ground final assembly test stage and the launch preparation stage, visiting spacecraft and their cargo. carried microorganisms.
These mean that almost all space kitchens use antimicrobial materials.
Li Gong gave an example: "In the space station, the total number of bacterial colonies after daily drinking water purification is very strict, close to 0, which is stricter than the requirements of drinking water standards."
Previously, the "Development, Promotion and Application of Antibacterial Materials in Manned Spacecraft Cabin" project led by the functional polymer material team of Southwest Jiaotong University won the first prize of Sichuan Science and Technology Progress Award in 2020.
The "four-needle zinc oxide whisker" antibacterial material developed by the project has a unique three-dimensional four-needle three-dimensional structure, which is evenly distributed in various matrix materials such as plastics, rubber, and paint activated carbon, which can endow the material with unique antibacterial functional properties.
Led by Southwest Jiaotong University and participated by Joyoung, the achievements of the manned spaceflight antibacterial material were successfully transformed and applied to the space kitchen.
Achieving uniform heating of "space food"
Fish-flavored shredded pork, Kung Pao chicken, assorted fried rice, curry fried rice, mushroom chicken nuggets, shredded pork with pickled vegetables, black pepper beef tenderloin, braised pork, fried rice with winter bamboo shoots and ham... These delicacies have all appeared in "Heavenly Palace".
The key question is how to heat it?
According to reports, compared to the ground, the floating of food in a weightless state will affect the uniform heating of the food; at the same time, heating in space requires packaging, and the challenge is the thermal barrier of the packaging material of the packaged food and the heating uniformity of the food question.
Li Gong introduced that around the characteristics of space food and the weightless environment in space, they proposed a new design concept of hot air heating device, and used methods and tools such as mathematical modeling, mechanics and fluid simulation to continuously optimize the design, and finally completed the hot air heating device. design stereotypes.
This hot air heating device is used to heat aerospace food and make yogurt, so that the food can be fixed on the heating plate instead of "floating" in the air. Metal cans, plastic packaging and other packaged foods are heated, which perfectly solves the compatibility of food packaging and the uniformity of heating, allowing more Chinese delicacies to enter space.
"Recently, the Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Center sent a letter of thanks to Joyoung. The astronauts reported that Joyoung has developed a good on-orbit application experience for the related equipment, which makes us encouraged and proud." Han Run, vice chairman of Joyoung told reporters Said: "We have successfully solved the problems of food processing and drinking water purification in the extremely harsh outer space environment such as 'vacuum, weightlessness, and no convection' through independent innovation technology."
The reporter learned that, as one of the earliest companies involved in the development of the national manned spaceflight project, Joyoung undertook the development of the space kitchen project as early as 2014.
Han Run emphasized: "The smart space kitchen is a Chinese original and has reached the international advanced level." It is reported that the above products have been converted into civilian use and entered the market.