The cooking is being prepared in space from Toulouse
It’s a happy coincidence. While the massive SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, despite its first two failures, exploded from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral (Florida) on Wednesday, November 16, carrying an empty Orion spacecraft of passengers as part of the Artemis-1 mission, a startup In Toulouse, a distinguished chef, the schools of engineering and the National Council for Scientific Research also met on the same day. In Toulouse, at the Grand Marché Min Toulouse Occitanie, these players have signed a partnership that will launch projects in food service on lunar soil by 2024.
“Our goal is not to colonize the moon,” warns Caroline Laurent, director of orbital systems and applications at Cnes. It will be an intermediate base and transit point towards major explorations such as Mars. »
But, really, every actor involved is wondering and wanting to bring their stone into the building. From its manufacturing workshop in Escalquens, startup Orius designs and manufactures equipment to produce plants in the space environment, without chemical inputs, while controlling parameters such as light and wind speed. And it is in the beginning. “We have the machines but we haven’t chosen the factories yet,” confirms Paul Hector Oliver, president and co-founder of the startup. “All this has not yet been defined.”
” at work ! “
Thierry Marx, do not start from a blank slate. Chef and physical chemist Raphael Hamon, head of the French Center for Culinary Innovation at Université Paris-Saclay (CFIC), created some recipes for astronaut Thomas Pasquet and his colleagues on the ISS. On the menu: Potato Cake and Roscoff Onion with Truffle, Seven Hour Beef with Porcini Mushroom Sauce and Amandine with Caramelized Pear.
“We know we’re going to work on the produce and revegetate it,” explains the chef, who will focus on weight, thinning and taste. “I’m like a fish in a bowl,” he says delightedly. “We can work together because there is no conflict between tradition and innovation. Maguelon-Pontier, Director of the Grand Marché Min Toulouse Occitanie, also welcomed this collaboration. “Today is the first day. It’s the start of action! »
Audrey Somazi
Pictured: Chef Thierry Marx surrounded by various partners. Credit: Remy Gabalda Tolico.
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