DEMONSTRATION
Vitamin Deficiencies
In this example we will be utilizing vitamin deficiencies as the issue faced by an astronaut. Vitamin deficiencies are actually extremely common with astronauts in space, especially for longer term vists aboard the ISS, since astronauts tend to consume far less than required, reducing their nutrient levels in their body. Obtaining vitamin D, however, is one of the largest issues for astronauts as they are restricted to recieving vitamin D from their diet only, rather than both the sun and diet as they would on Earth, since the sun's UV rays are too strong in space and thus are shielded from the astronauts. With astronauts mainly depending upon their diet for the crucial nutrients required for their bodies, it is vital that individual astronauts recieve these nutrients according to their personal needs.
Functionality
In our design, the Super Fruit, we have decided that with the results from current blood testing that occurs on the ISS astronauts would be able to print foods that are specified to meet their needs. This would be possible as each common vitamin and mineral would be dedicated to their own spools and would be sent to the ISS. From there, the astronaut can select which vitamin to mix with their food, and only the specific amount needed, based on blood test results, would be printed, eliminating the issue of wasting -or even creating- wasted materials. These vitamins, coming in a form of solidified gel, would be heated back into a more gooey form, utilizing it's sticky feature to print far easier than other foods in space and which would then mix with the ingredient and taste filaments. Talking about ingredients and taste, we decided that the ingredients of the foods would consist of certain minerals and vitamins required by the astronauts on a daily basis, on which the vitamin and mineral filaments would add on to based on specific needs. The taste of the combination of ingredients and vitamins would be balanced with a taste filament, correlating with the food item that is being printed. The precision of 3D printing would allow for nicely textured food and the taste dedicated to specific filaments would allow for both a variety of taste options and control on the amount of taste present in food by an astronaut. Dedicating specific vitamins and minerals as well as tastes to spools, but keeping main ingredients in a mixed form for a spool would require less spools, as a huge variety, but is currently necessary in today's technology, since vast arrays of ingredients would no longer be necessary. In simpler terms, ingredient spools would come in combinations of ingredients that deliver the required nutrients for a day with three meals, regardless of its taste as the taste spool would create the flavor. You could have any set of ingredients taste like pizza, but truly have the ingredients be far from those in a pizza. Astronauts would feel and taste the food they desire, while getting their daily required nutrients and recieving medication, or in this case, vitamins needed to aid a faltering state.
Real Scenario
So imagine this, an astronaut aboard the ISS is lacking vitamin D, extremely common, and has not been consuming all of his food, also extremely common. So once the astronaut's blood tests have been done, the results are sent to base and then the base sends back the amount of filaments required to get the astronaut's health back into shape. The astronaut will be able to continue to choose whatever meal he chooses from the variety provided and insert the proper spools. The ingredient spool will have the required amount of nutrients for that specific meal while the vitamin spools adds the additional Vitamin D. Then the two's tastes are balanced with the mixture of taste filament, and the taste's intensity is determined by the astronaut's preferences or restriction on the amount usuable. The gooey state while printing these filaments will allow them to come together to form a strongly joined piece of food, heavily reducing the amount of crumbs without any compromises. Based on the astronaut's dietary needs, dervived from the test results, only that much food will be printed at first, unless overrided and is manually changed, which would require approval.