Category Archives: Living in Space

Events, Living in Space, Space Arts

Republic of the Moon and a Brief History of Drinking in Space

The Republic of the Moon exhibition is underway in London until Feb. 2nd includes a number of special events  such as A Brief History of Drinking in Space on the last day:

Sun 2 Feb 2014 – 4:30 p.m.

ParabolicSherry

To date, there has been relatively little consumption of alcohol in space and on the Moon, but that could be set to change. With space tourism taking off, new lunar missions on the horizon and manned expeditions aiming further into space – with all its stresses – could a new era of zero gravity libations be next?

Join Sam Bompas of Bompas & Parr and David Lane of The Gourmand for a speculative look and the past, present and future of alcohol in space. From Buzz Aldrin’s legendary Holy Communion on the Moon to sherry experiments aboard Skylab and ceremonial ‘vodka’ consumption aboard the ISS, we’ll discuss the secret history of a slightly tipsy space age and ask what role our favourite poison will play in the future colonisation of the moon.

Ticket price includes the chance to sample Bompas & Parr’s unique Parabolic Sherry, created exclusively for super/collider’s POP ROCK MOON SHOP® based on Skylab-era research about alcohol in space. 

In the 70s, NASA spent about half a million dollars studying which wines would be the best accompaniment for astronauts’ space food – even commissioning Californian oenologists to recommend the ultimate orbital wine and food pairing. Their suggestion? A medium sherry. It’s high alcohol content means that that it stands up to the violence of blast off and travels well. The choice mirrors sherry’s earlier history as a wine popularised by adventurer Francis Drake and appreciated by the British for centuries due to its robustness in travel. 

As bottles aren’t allowed in space for safety reasons, Bompas & Parr’s ultra limited-edition sherry is packaged in a space-worthy plastic pouch ready for extraterrestrial consumption, in moderation.)

Living in Space, Space Science, The Moon

Moon dust may not be as dry as thought

Speaking of the Moon, there are indications that there could be minute but non-zero amounts of water in lunar dust created by solar wind protons smacking into mineral molecules and freeing oxygen, which would in turn combine with the protons (i.e. hydrogen) : Space Dust Possible Source Of Water On Moon And Maybe Even Life On Other Planets – IBTimes.com –

Researchers from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, the University of California, Berkeley, and California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory used state-of-the-art electron microscopes to get a close-up look at particles of interplanetary space dust. What they found was that solar wind radiation had changed the outer rims on the silicate minerals in space dust to water, something scientists previously believed to be the case but weren’t able to prove because of limited technology.

Their study, published in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concluded that the water found on interplanetary dust forms from the reaction of solar wind and oxygen in the silicate mineral grains. Solar wind, which bombards the particles with ionized hydrogen atoms, reorganized the atoms in the dust particles, leaving oxygen more available to react with hydrogen to create water. Researchers say the implications of finding water on the rims of space dust are huge.

Living in Space, Science and Technology, Space Systems

Video: Studying Fire In Space (FLEX-2)

An interesting discussion of combustion research in microgravity:

Caption:

Public Affairs Officer Lori Meggs at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama talks about a “cool” flames experiment in space. Meggs speaks to Vedha Nayagam, co-investigator for the FLEX-2 combustion experiment.

You never want to hear about a fire in space, but for this experiment, that’s exactly what had to happen. The FLEX-2 experiment burned different types of fuel droplets and showed us how flames behave without gravity, so that we may learn better ways to extinguish flames in space — information that could lead to improved environmentally friendly fuels on Earth.

Read more about FLEX-2…http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sta…

Living in Space, Mars

ESA’s Mars simulation in Antarctica & Utah + NPR report on Mars settlement

The European Space Agency is carrying out an experiment involving interactions between two simulated Mars bases – one at the Concordia station in Antarctica and one at the Mars Society‘s Mars Desert Research Station in Utah: Connecting Mars to Mars: Concordia joins Mars Desert Research Station telesurgery experiment – Chronicles from Concordia

The exercises included simulated telesurgeries: ▶ Anesthesia sim session at MDRS – YouTube

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Here’s a NPR news segment about the potential for Mars settlements and discusses the HI-SEAS Mars base simulation in Hawaii and the Mars One organization: Mars Or Bust: Putting Humans On The Red Planet – NPR.