This 3D printer can print pizza for astronauts in under 4 minutes

Back in 2013 a tech celebrity and engineer by the name of Anjan Contractor unveiled the first of its kind 3D printed food, which led to the development of  NASA’s first 3D-food printer designed for manned missions to Mars.

Last year, Contractor, along with colleagues Jordan French, Chintan Kanuga and Ben Feltner launched a start-up company called BeeHex that set out to revolutionize food dispensing. The company employs robots to make actual pizza. (Because even astronauts love pizza.)

According to Tech Insider, the printer is hooked up to a computer that tells it which ingredients to use and when. Once the pizza order is placed in the system, the bot expels each ingredient from the cartridges, and out of the nozzles and adjusts its pressure depending on the texture of the ingredient.

The printer can also customize pizzas into different shapes. All a user has to do is submit an image.

Not only can the printer help bring pizza up to astronauts in space, or ensure that those on future Mars missions have their fill of the pretty popular food, the printer can be used by Earth-bound companies, as well. The company says that pizzas can be ordered via app, which will allow for custom options like size and toppings.

Take a look at the video below and watch how a pizza can be ordered through the app, then printed right away.