Tins of food for the ENERGY experiment (Credit: ESA/NASA)

Tins of food for the ENERGY experiment (Credit: ESA/NASA)

In his latest update from on board the International Space Station, ESA astronaut André Kuipers explains how his latest diet for the ESA ENERGY experiment will one day help astronauts on their way to Mars.

André writes: “I went on a diet again in the name of science. My previous diets for SOLO and Pro K experiments compared astronaut bone loss with osteoporosis on Earth. This diet for the ENERGY experiment looks at the energy expenditure of astronauts during a long spaceflight. ENERGY is a complicated experiment. Just as with all physiology experiments, measurements are conducted before, during and after flight. This is the only way to record the differences between Earth and microgravity.”

Read more in André’s blog: ‘A small step towards Mars‘