NASA to predict vitamin levels of space food

Scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have recently developed a high-tech mathematical model for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to ensure that astronauts' food remains rich in nutrients in space. At times space missions are extended and as a result of which the space food that is stocked, starts losing its nutrients. This new mathematical model will predict the degradation of vitamins in space food which are stocked for days. This research was fully funded by NASA keeping in mind the welfare of the astronauts who have to stay back in space because of these extended missions. NASA had provided the researchers a funding of around $982,685 for conduction these scientific studies. The researchers had prepared 3,000 pouches of space food using the usual NASA recipe and had stored it in the exact same conditions like that of the International Space Station, following which they conducted experiments on these pouches. Hang Xiao, professor and Clydesdale Scholar of Food Science said, "There was no information available from literature to directly answer the questions and concerns that NASA had. We used real-time, real-life data in our study to train the mathematical model and to determine how predictive and reliable the model would be". This tool can also be used for other biological compounds as well other than vitamins. The new mathematic model will certainly help NASA to schedule resupplying trips more efficiently.

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