Is an International Space Station brewery on the way? If one kid who isn’t legally able to drink has his way there will be.
11-year-old Michal Bodzianowski was recently selected as one of several winners of a national science competition that is part of the Student Spaceflights Experiments Program.
Realizing that beer was popular back in the middle ages because it wasn’t filled with bacteria Michal submitted the experiment “What Are the Effects of Creation of Beer in Microgravity and Is It Possible?”
The young scientist theorizes that if a space mission goes horribly awry and a spacecrafts water source is contaminated, astronauts could brew beer that would kill off bacteria.
Michal and several of his fellow students worked out the plan for the International Space Station brewery and the school helped raise $21,500 to make it a reality. The brewery needed to be built in such a way that it could leave our atmosphere and still work properly. Most of the money raised goes to Nanorocks, the commercial company that flies winning projects to the ISS.
The experiment will arrive inside a six-inch tube with clamps that divide the hops, water, yeast, and malted barley. Once aboard the ISS astronauts will unclamp the tube and shake it so the yeast can react with the other ingredients.
As the ISS team tests the microbrewery in space, Michal Bodzianowski will continue the same experiment on Earth. The two experiments will then be compared to see what difference arise from their Earth vs. Space brewing processes.
Here’s to hoping that the astronauts don’t have one too many before heading home, that would add a whole new dimension to the “don’t drink and drive” slogan.
Do you think an International Space Station brewery is an interesting way to “fix” contaminated water?