Flat, fruit-flavored drinks may not sound like a breakthrough in spaceflight. But for astronauts headed into longer missions, they could solve two stubborn problems at once: how to make food less monotonous, and how to deliver nutrients that are hard to get from standard space meals. That is the idea behind a new study in ACS Food Science & Technology, where researchers designed fortified beverage emulsions that could be made both on Earth and in microgravity. The drinks are built to carry omega-3 fatty acids, offer different sweetness levels and flavor profiles, and remain stable when mixed through a low-energy microfluidic process. Current space menus still rely heavily on ultrastable foods such as dehydrated and thermostabilized meals. Those products meet basic nutritional needs, but they do not fully solve a problem astronauts have reported for years: reduced appetite during space travel. If crews eat less than they should, meeting calorie and nutrient targets becomes harder, especially on missions lasting more than six months. Svenja Schmidt from the School of Chemical Engineering at Adelaide University and …