ESA Looks at Incorporating Insects Into Astronaut Diets

[Buster's Uncle]

Extreme Tech
ESA Looks at Incorporating Insects Into Astronaut Diets
Jon Martindale
Mon, November 10, 2025 at 8:30 AM EST
2 min read



ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti prepares lunch on the ISS. (Credit: ESA)


Humans have been eating insects for millennia, but despite the uncomfortable feelings a bug-based diet might evoke in cultures not used to their consumption, they could form a vital part of future astronauts' diets. A new study being conducted by the European Space Agency will explore how these miniature organisms could help recycle unsavoury compounds and create a useful protein source to supplement future space menus.

"Insects seem to cope quite well in space environments. They have a good ability to withstand physical stresses," said Åsa Berggren, lead author of a study published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology. Berggren also highlighted how good insects were at converting waste products that humans can't utilize into proteins and fats that we can, making them useful recyclers as well as sources of nutrition.

The ESA and other space organizations have conducted many insect trials over the decades, famously sending fruit flies into orbit in 1947 aboard a V-2 rocket. But it's how these insects survive and multiply in micro-gravity that's interesting. Some flourish really well and could prove a future food source. Others, like stick insects, are less adaptable and are unlikely to make the cut.



Fruit fly habitat after developing in micro-gravity.
Credit: NASA

With a handful of experiments conducted by various organizations over several decades, the ESA aims to conduct new tests using modern data to identify truly useful insect food sources. The agency wants to find insects that can survive many month-long journeys, complete entire life cycles in space, and avoid losing nutrients throughout multi-generational breeding programs—all while in micro-gravity.

To that end, the ESA is now working with teams of biologists, as well as food and space experts, to design new experiments to find the ideal candidates to help fill the stomachs of future space explorers.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/esa-looks-incorporating-insects-astronaut-133021219.html

[Lord Avalon]

It's not cricket.

[Geo]

Cockroach?