CNN Correspondent: Europe's first 1returnable 2commercial spacecraft, Phoenix 1, 3launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last week. One purpose of the mission, to test whether 4astronauts could grow all of their own food in space. As the 5momentum for space exploration grows, the attention now turns to the astronauts. With Mars on the horizon for some time in the 2030s, a round-trip mission will last about 18 months. 

Dr. Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, Director of the Bezos Centre: This project is about how we can produce the food we need if we want to travel in space, if we want to 6colonize other planets. It's really difficult to bring everything we need from Earth. Just think that an astronaut 7consumesbetween half a kilo and 1.5 kilograms of food per day, and every kilogram we ship to space can be 20,000 US dollars. So imagine every meal can be something like 10,000 dollars. 

CNN Correspondent: NASA, the European Space Agency, and other partner countries have long been working aboard the space station to learn how to live in space and growing some food. Now, the Imperial College, with the help of the Bezos Earth Fund, are 8investigating how to create food that both astronauts and people on Earth can produce 9sustainably using 10biofoundries, with cells acting as mini-factories. The plan is to use 11microbes and 12microorganisms such as bacteria or 13yeast, enabling space crews to grow their own food, fuel and even medicine. 

Dr. Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, Director of the Bezos Centre: If we bring a tiny little cell out in space, that cell can then grow and produce everything we need. 

CNN Correspondent: The team hopes the mission will 14reveal whether the cells can produce the variety of products they seek, from vitamins to dairy products to 15biodiesel. And that's just the start. 

Aqeel Shamsul, Frontier Space: But down the line, when we have the moon base, we need these kind of 16bioreactors to be able to really 17sustain permanent 18settlement of 19human civilization in this environment. 

CNN Correspondent: The team hopes to provide space crews with the taste of home while out in space and maybe make some space pizzas.