MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/. The Research Institute of the Food Concentrate Industry and Special Food Technology plans to take part in the tests of basic food rations for crews of next-generation spaceships, Research Institute Chief Designer for Space Crew Food Supply Viktor Dobrovolsky said on Tuesday.

"Currently, we have developed a food ration for the crew of a next-generation spacecraft on an assignment from the Energia Space Rocket Corporation and with the participation of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Biomedical Problems," he said at the second conference: "Nutrition in Space: Science. Innovations. Prospects" held at the Federal Nutrition Research and Biotechnology Center.

"We have developed a basic food ration prototype for the crew of a piloted spacecraft for future Moon flights, with the inclusion of radioprotective products with the increased dietary fiber content for four-person flights for nine days. We are planning our participation in the tests of this basic ration," the chief designer added.

The tests will involve simulating cosmic radiation and the structure of the spaceship’s gas environment, he specified.

"After the relevant work is carried out, the basic food ration will be adjusted based on the results of the tests and design documentation for the basic ration will be worked out," Dobrovolsky added.

The new ration will subsequently serve as the basis for developing food rations for various options of autonomous flights along the orbit of the Moon’s artificial satellite, he said.