Professor Nonaka Tomomi (野中朋美) of Waseda University discusses the outlook for “food” and systems design to make life in space more comfortable. The article introduces the significance of the Space QOL Research and Development Centre and how food technologies developed on Earth can be applied in space.
The “food” of an era in which people live in space will provide an opportunity to re-examine what is taken for granted about food on Earth and to design everything from agriculture through cooking and processing, preservation and recycling as a single cycle. Professor Nonaka Tomomi (野中朋美) emphasised a human-centred research approach that combines ergonomics, health and medicine, among other fields, with ECLSS as its foundation, and explained the overall concept of the Space QOL Research and Development Centre.
The Space QOL Research and Development Centre consists of 9 groups. With ergonomics and sports science at its core, the centre conducts interdisciplinary research management across fields including commercial space services and service design. It is an initiative focused on the general public that aims to improve health and comfort during extended stays in space.
The concept of “deliciousness” in space needs to be redesigned, and establishing a biological ECLSS is essential to circulating resources in a closed environment. Research focuses on designs that achieve food diversity and sustainability at the same time, including the production of rice and beans and the development of cooking technologies that use limited water resources. Professor Nonaka Tomomi (野中朋美) positioned food as a nexus connecting different academic fields and people, and emphasised the significance of applying technologies developed on Earth to space.