Two Indian air force personnel are set to be blasted into orbit by the end of the next decade as part of an ambitious 2.5-billion-dollar project that follows the country's successful unmanned lunar probe launch last year.

Dr A.S. Bawa, director of the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), said food scientists, biochemists and microbiologists had already begun identifying dishes that will make the pilots feel at home as they hurtle through space.

"It will have to be in freeze-dried form for the sake of lightness and compactness. We have started work on curries like chicken and mutton as well as spinach, peas and mushrooms," he told AFP by telephone.

Breakfast could include "upma" -- a southern Indian dish made from refined wheat or semolina -- to be eaten from a squeezable tube.

"The main difference will be in terms of the packaging. Most of these things will have to be the kind where you pour water onto it and eat it without a spoon. It may have to be consumed through a straw," he added.

The DFRL, set up in the 1960s in the southern city of Mysore, mainly provides lightweight rations for India's military but was previously involved in developing food for US and Russian space missions.

Bawa admitted the food is hardly gourmet and will not be as fiery as Indians enjoy on Earth -- and for good reason.

"These foods have to be readily digestible," he said "They shouldn't put too much strain on the stomachs of the astronauts, both from the fat and spice point of view."

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