Amina Abu Hamda mediates a group of NASA scientists (Al Jazeera)

Amman -

She did not think that her suffering with migraine headaches, which had plagued her for years, would be the direct cause that would lead her toward the world with achievements, innovations, and a bright future. Based on her experience in the specialty of therapeutic nutrition, she began a journey of searching for natural methods that would contribute to treating her problem by understanding its causes and treatment methods. However, The results were greater than her expectations, which opened the door wide for her to provide her scientific and academic expertise in order to develop space science.

The best in the world

Jordanian scientist Amina Abu Hamdeh achieved a Jordanian achievement with her project “Green Gold” winning as one of the top 10 entrepreneurial projects in the world, competing for the Global Award for Green Leadership in Barcelona in 2018, a project that then qualified her to participate in the International Analog Astronauts Conference of To the US Space Agency (NASA) through research related to “a sustainable project to produce food for astronauts on Mars.”

Amina Abu Hamda’s project is one of the top 10 entrepreneurial projects in the world (Al Jazeera)

The importance of the project, according to Amina speaking to Al Jazeera Net, lies in enabling astronauts to produce their own healthy and balanced food in any space colony without the need for many supplies from planet Earth, which makes the ambition of space reconstruction possible and can be achieved in the near future.

Amina explained that most developed countries and many private sector giants in the world are competing by investing trillions of dollars in space reconstruction and establishing space tourism, which depends on establishing colonies qualified to live in space for long periods.

Amina follows from the United States of America her scientific journey and innovations related to astronauts (Al Jazeera)

Astronaut health challenges

One of the most important challenges they face is their ability to produce food in space on a continuous, sustainable, environmentally balanced and healthy basis, as it is not possible to provide the food we know on Earth, and it is impossible to raise carnivorous animals in the future because the space environment is completely different from Earth.

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Regarding the health challenges facing astronauts - as their journeys extend for long periods - she indicates that among them are problems related to a weak sense of taste due to the lack of gravity, and high fluids in the sinuses, which made astronauts in the past ask for more hot peppers to taste their food, in addition to To challenges in the digestive system, as gases cause them many problems, and can sometimes be fatal by putting pressure on the heart, and they also face many challenges in absorbing food.

Amina focuses her research on functional eating that helps solve health problems (Al Jazeera)

As a result of these and other reasons, the Jordanian scientist focused her research on what is called functional eating, which helps solve the health problems of astronauts, explaining that her idea went towards working on establishing a food production line on Mars so that the project would be sustainable with zero waste in order to suit the conditions in space. .

Challenges and achievements

She explained that the research paper she presented at NASA's Analog Astronauts Conference proved that astronauts cannot eat the same food found on Earth, and therefore the food must be different in quantity and quality.

Jordanian scientist Amina Abu Hamda concluded that the solution lies in food consisting of juice from herbal extracts (Al Jazeera)

I concluded that the ideal solution is for the food to be juice made from microgreen herbal extract, which enables the astronauts to obtain the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants necessary for their bodies, and through which they will obtain animal protein from snails and mushrooms.

She added, "As is known, we cannot raise animals such as cows, sheep, and poultry in space, so it was necessary to search for an alternative that can be raised in space. Through my continuous research, I have come to the conclusion that snails and mushrooms can be raised in space in an easy and safe way and within small spaces." "The snail can adapt and live in space without gravity."

Amina (third from the left, standing) achieved a Jordanian achievement at the world level (Al Jazeera)

To explain the idea of ​​her pioneering project, she said that it is the design of highly efficient food production units that can be used during a space flight, where liquid, gelatinous and solid organic food is produced without preservatives and gluten-free, and is from organic herbs extracted from a hydroponic system, which It helps to compensate for the deficiency of vitamins and minerals in the human body, such as iron, B12, calcium, and others. Thus, the astronaut will get everything his body needs in a safe and healthy way for him and the environment around him.

Amina Abu Hamda chose the African snail, which can be raised in space, as it has an excellent, healthy type of protein, and thus the astronaut gets all the nutrients his body needs to reduce the waste that comes out of the astronauts’ bodies because they cannot shower for long periods.

Amina follows from the United States of America her scientific journey and innovations related to astronauts (Al Jazeera)

Science Journey

The Jordanian entrepreneur is currently continuing her global research journey through her participation in a global competition in the United States of America, through which she presented a research paper on a sustainable project to operate food production units on the surface of Mars, through which she qualified for the second advanced stage of the competition.

Scientist Amina Abu Hamda won the award for the first Jordanian green entrepreneur with her distinguished project “Green Gold”, as it covers three main sectors, namely health, environment and agriculture, where her passion and love of science led her to think outside the box and find new opportunities.

Source: Al Jazeera