Astronauts aboard the International Space Station typically add water to their meals before they eat. But a new study at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says that bringing these types of food will be heavier to ship on longer flights such as missions to Mars. Study leader Amor Menezes says that synthetic biology could be the answer.

"What we're advocating is for dry food. So basically we would take these bioreactors. The microbes will produce, for example, Spirulina, which is basically kind of this nutritious biomass. It's got almost all of the nutrients that you would possibly require. And you would consume biomass instead of eating this kind of wet food."

Menezes says that this method could reduce the mass of food shipment by 38 percent. But it can also improve the taste.

"Where synthetic biology can go with respect to food in space is specifically to improve the quality of taste and texture and mouth feel, that kind of thing, for this particular biomass."