Astronutics

Somewhere above the night side of the Earth, an almond has grown fins and is heading for orbit. That picture, from the concept sketches, explains Astronutics faster than any definition. Take astronautics, the science of space flight, drop one letter, and the word lands on nuts. The launch-pad seriousness survives, the hard 'astro' and the clipped '-tics', while the middle tells you what is in the bag.

The other sketches keep the mission going. An astronaut on the lunar surface holds up a pouch for a selfie, a rover reflected in the visor. A cashew streaks across the Milky Way as a comet, followed by a peanut, a half-open pistachio and a walnut, each trailing fire. In the centrepiece, the whole mix sits in orbit around a blazing sun: a solar system you could tip into your palm.

A name like this asks for an audience that is young, restless and a little competitive: the teenager with a training timetable, the student revising past midnight, the parent filling a lunchbox for a future engineer. Healthy snacks tend to speak in the soft voice of wellness. Astronutics talks like mission control. It treats a handful of almonds as fuel, which is fair, and ambition as something that fits in a pocket.

There is room to grow without leaving orbit: trail mixes named after planets, a protein bar called the booster, a sponsorship of the school science fair.