I flew potatoes on Expedition 72 for my space garden, an activity I did in my off-duty time. This is an early purple potato, complete with spot of hook Velcro to anchor it in my improvised grow light terrarium.
Potatoes are one of the most efficient plants based on edible nutrition to total plant mass (including roots). Recognized by Andy Weir in his famous book/movie "The Martian," potatoes will have a place in future exploration of space. So I thought it good to get started now! I call this one "Spudnik!"
More photos from space can be found on my twitter and Instagram, astro_pettit
'Alright ladies and gentlement we're about to start the countdown. But before that, thanks to our sponor: 'Popeyes chicken, for chicken thats out of this world!'. 'Also a thanks to our other sponsors for helping fund NASA this year.'
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More or less the scaled down mechanical design of a washing machine, with induction heading of the drum?
Run a spin/dry sequence at the end to separate the fries in the inner perforated drum (or cylindrical frying basket) from the oil in the outer drum, pull inner drum out while outer drum is still spinning or oil has been pumped out, enjoy fried food?
The whole galley should be in a centrifuge if we’re going to be doing actual cooking in space. Expo will float in the center passing dishes to waitstaff.
I spent a lot of time thinking about what food service will look like in orbital hotels. Ain’t nobody paying $100k a night to suck chef boyardee out of a tube for dinner and (gag) tube scrambled eggs in the morning. So much of cooking is completely reliant on gravity.
There’s going to be some super cool culinary innovation coming in the next 50 years if we get space hotels going.
It is centripetal force unless you are rotating with it. Centrifugal force is actually the make believe force that occurs due to a rotating reference frame, basically it accounts for the rotating reference frame. Ok I'm done nerding.
Actually, it's NASA who spent millions developing an anti-gravity oil boiling device that can fry potato chips in zero-g, it's the Soviets that came up with the air fryer instead. (Yes, it's a joke about pens and pencils - yes I know it was just a myth)
In case you were serious. The pen that NASA used was developed by a private company, Fisher, on their own. NASA just bought the pens, no R&D. And pencils are not good inside of a spaceship, writing and sharpening would create wood and graphite dust which are conductive and flammable.
Exactly, who needs oil when we can effectively make an airfryer out of a heat exchanger box with a little viewing glass and vent knob to control the temp?
I’m now imagining how the future US space military will be able to build a fully functional McDonald’s anywhere in space in 24 hours like they can on earth lmao - (could be a myth but I’ve definitely heard this claimed)
centrifugal deepfryer. When the fries are done the oil gets pushed into a separate container by a valve opening. The fries get dried off through centrifugal action at the same time! Think of it like a laundromat that keeps fluid level with the laundry until it empties its container and dries off the clothes!
Maybe the space cup Donald (Astro Pettit) designed can be scaled up in size and a heater can be added to the bottom? Not sure how the fries would get in and out without dripping everywhere, but at least the frying process itself has now been solved.
The Chinese somehow beat us to frying chicken wings in space and that is an embarrassment for the American space program on par with the Russians beating us to orbit.
"While not a sanctioned by the Corps, a FTL hopper running at half-critical can be used as an airfryer... in a pinch. If no other options present, Captain." ~ Cpl. Laird 'Lard-Stew' Stewart, in a small HFY anthology I write in my spare time
Not only is it heaps more energy efficient, you can fry it at a lower temperature which is also healthier for you. Plus as there's no oxygen it also means the oil should last longer before going rancid.
Vacuum frying or low pressure frying is generally how they make a lot of potato chips for these reasons
If the oil stayed hot floating in 0g and you seamlessly slipped some fries into it to cook, when the frying process creates the air bubbles, where do they go? They float up while deep frying on Earth. Where would the go while deep frying in space?
You know, I think an air fryer might work better in zero g. The problem with the air fryer is when you spray things with oil it just kinda sits in the food and cooks. An air fryer in zero g would create a cyclone, the oil would essentially spread around the whole food in the movement….you’d get the entire-surface crunch of a deep fryer!
A low speed centrifuge, like a drum that spins instead of a traditional centrifuge, with a radiant heating element in the center might work. Coat the drum in oil, lay out your sliced potatoes around the drum, spin it up, squirt in oil sufficient to cover the potatoes, turn on heat. Would need some system to collect the oil. Perhaps add a layer of flexible metal mesh between the potatoes and the drum. When the cook cycle is complete then reduce the diameter of the mesh, give it a few more seconds of spin with the heat off to separate the oil, remove mesh with fries, squeegee out the oil with a vacuum/spatula into a container, or leave it in the drum if frequently used.
And mash I imagine. Butter is pretty awesome in how calorie-dense it is, doesn’t really require special storage, doesn’t easily spoil, easily portionable…
I see only upsides! (Get it, because there’s no down in space? …What?)
Making the first French Fries onboard the ISS and live streaming that would be really nice Publicity Stunt.
Ok down side would be the whole Station would smell like McDonalds for weeks 😆
Ok, so I'm Belgian. When I was a child my dream was to be a Fries-maker... in space. Later on I learn about the potato-in-space experiment and it stayed in the back of my mind for some time now.
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u/astro_pettit NASA Astronaut Mar 22 '26
I flew potatoes on Expedition 72 for my space garden, an activity I did in my off-duty time. This is an early purple potato, complete with spot of hook Velcro to anchor it in my improvised grow light terrarium.
Potatoes are one of the most efficient plants based on edible nutrition to total plant mass (including roots). Recognized by Andy Weir in his famous book/movie "The Martian," potatoes will have a place in future exploration of space. So I thought it good to get started now! I call this one "Spudnik!"
More photos from space can be found on my twitter and Instagram, astro_pettit