United Kingdom, Aug. 23 -- Astronauts may eat their recycled poo.

When on a space mission, they may eat a "smear" of their faeces - described as gooey Marmite or Vegemite.

This is so it can resolve the spaceflight issue of not having enough food for the astronauts to eat on their long-term voyages.

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University, USA, used a four foot-long enclosed, cylindrical system, to determine which microbes came into contact with the waste.

The microbes broke down the faeces, and the methane released led the team to find large amounts of Methylococcus capsulatus.

The bacteria was 52 per cent protein and 36 per cent fat - a good source of nutrition

The researchers found it was almost free of disease-causing path...