Japanese instant snack noodles hope to dump their junk food status and soar to the higher gastronomical rank of space cuisine.
Nisshin Food Products Co said yesterday it will work with the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) to develop instant ramen noodles for astronauts participating in the International Space Station project.
"It has been the wish of the founder of our company, who invented instant ramen noodles some 44 years ago, to develop space food instant ramen," said Shinichi Kuwata, a spokesman for Nisshin, best known for its Cup Noodles brand of the instant soupy dish.
"He want to make it the ultimate instant noodles," he said.
NASDA needed nutritious, tasty and familiar food for Japanese astronauts as the space station project would require them to stay in space for several months at a time, said NASDA spokesman Yoshihiro Nakamura.
"Japanese astronauts who have already been to space have told us they wanted to eat ramen noodles. With Nisshin proposing to develop space food ramen, we decided to conduct a feasibility study for noodle eating in space," he said.
Astronauts must be able to consume the noodles without slopping strands or spilling drops of soup on their clothes or equipment, Nakamura said.
"We do have space food spaghetti. Pasta is cut into small pieces and put in a gel-like sauce. Astronauts use spoons to eat it to stop anything from their dish floating out in the no-gravity environment," Nakamura said.
Nisshin's noodle scientists are also studying ways to enhance the noodle's taste, while maintaining low salt content, Kuwata said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source