College students planning to brew beer on the moon
Team Original Gravity from the University of California is looking to take everyone’s favorite fermented yeast drink to new heights. File photo
Ever since space exploration has become a possibility for mankind, multiple innovative yet somehow crazy ideas have sprouted in recent years.
Ingenious plans like human colonization, and growing potatoes and greens in space all sound great, but another new idea definitely takes the cake.
A team of college students from the University of California in San Diego, United States, are looking to take drinking to a whole new spectrum, as they plan to brew fermented yeast on the moon.
Self-dubbed as Team Original Gravity, the students are finalists in the Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge, Business Insider reports.
“We want to become the first people to ferment yeast on the moon,” Neeki Ashari, one of the members, told the news outlet.
The team is looking to brew the concoction through the use of an automated 3D-printed device which holds separate compartments of sugary liquid and yeast.
The projected gadget—which is about the size of a soda can—will be managed through electronic controllers and will be able to log data about the fermentation process.
Once a space rover equipped with the device lands on the moon, a valve will automatically open the compartments, the report said. The yeast will then eat the liquid’s sugars and produce carbon dioxide to create beer.
Although their plans seem like a light-hearted science project at first, Ashari assures the public that it would soon play a pivotal role in human colonization.
“This experiment would far exceed brewing applications and would actually serve a vital purpose,” she explained. “If we can understand this, it can play a role in consumptive and clinical applications for the future of colonization in space exploration.”
Meanwhile, Google’s esteemed competition aims to come up with low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.
If Team Original Gravity wins, they will receive a $20 million fund and have their device launched in a lunar lander and rover to the moon in December 2017. One of the members will depart with the mission as well. Khristian Ibarrola/JB
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