Back in May of last year we dove into the ever-booming world of 3D printing when it was revealed that NASA had given $125,000 to engineer Anjan Contractor to develop a machine that could actually print edible food items for astronauts to eat in space. It sounded right out of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or Star Trek.

The first goal was a favorite of most people: a simple pizza. The machine would print a layer of dough that cooks as the process moves along, then mix a tomato powder with water and oil to create the sauce layer before the final layer of cheese and any protein that might be used is added.

Contractor has made some good progress since then, and a video of the food printing machine in action has been released. You can watch the video of a pizza being printed and see an image of the final product below!

As you can see, this appears to be an early version of the machine. It doesn’t appear to cook as it goes yet (if that’s still in the plan), and one would assume it would have to be much smaller and less messy for space use. But still, very cool!

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[Source: Geeks Are Sexy]