Farmbots, flavour pills and zero-gravity beer: inside the mission to grow food in space

Astronauts content themselves with freeze-dried gruel, but plans for crewed missions to Mars mean scientists need to create more delicious, nutritious menus

Three robots are growing vegetables on the roof of the University of Melbourne's student pavilion. As I watch, a mechanical arm, hovering above the crop like a fairground claw machine, sprays a carefully measured dose of water over the plants.

The greens themselves look fairly terrestrial - cos lettuce, basil, coriander and moth-eaten kale - but they are actually prototypes for a groundbreaking research mission to grow fresh food in outer space.

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