Biryani finds a place in Astronauts menu

Hyderabad: Astronauts have a reason to cheer in their space journey. As many as 30 dishes, including Biryani, have been approved for Gaganyaan, India's' first spaceflight mission.

Isro and astronauts are evaluating the menu of unique ready-to-eat dishes. Chicken biryani, chicken curry, suji halwa, chappatis are among the approved cuisines in the list.

Astronauts generally consume specially prepared ready-to-eat dishes right from fruit juices, energy bars to other Indian delicacies.

Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) develops the menu for astronauts. DFRL is a Mysuru-based lab and part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

After DFRL prepares the list of menu items, it is up to Isro and astronauts to decide on food items from the catalogue to choose. DFRL has also developed a food warmer technology and a waste disposal pack as well.

Gaganyaan astronauts will consume Indian food items. Packaging the food is another major challenge for DFRL as it requires technology innovation to preserve food in a no-gravity situation as while taking out items from the package, several tiny particles may escape into the space capsule. Further, water molecules may also float in the space shuttle, said an official at DFRL, which has developed the products as per NASA quality standards.

The survival ration prepared by DFRL includes vegetable pulao, plain rice and vegetable noodles. DFRL has also potato peas curry, dal fry, egg curry, chicken curry, chicken pulao, chapatis with no preservatives, and energy foods.

Energy foods include chicken biscuits, flax cookies, Omega-3 creamy bar, and coco cocoa delight bar.

Other instant and mix foods are coconut chutney mix, cooking pulses, upma mix, sooji halwa mix, etc. Beverages are appetizer mix, millet beverage mix, Brahmi drink, aloe vera juice and vegetable juices.