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The International Space Station (Finally) Gets an Espresso Machine
coondoggie writes NASA this week will be sending its first espresso making machine into space, letting astronauts onboard the International Space Station brew coffee, tea or other hot beverages for those long space days. Making espresso in space is no small feat, as heating the water to the right temperature – 208F – and generating enough pressure to make the brew are critical in the brewing process. And then getting it into a “cup,” well that’s nearly impossible in gravity-free space. NASA, the Italian space agency ASI, aerospace firm Argotec, and coffee company Lavazza have come up with en experimental machine that will deliver the espresso into what basically amounts to a sippy pouch.
You can get to any pressure you need as long as it's designed along the lines of a pressure cooker.
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If only the taste of instant coffe wasn't shit...
"Hey we've got some upcoming technical challenges for future missions that need us to deal with pressurizing and heating liquids"
"Okay, what are the parameters?"
"A lot like coffee actually"
"Well then...let's trial our technology by building an espresso machine."
Can you get to 208 degrees F at the internal pressure at which the space station is maintained?
No. No one on the design team thought about that, so they're going to go through all of the expense of designing, building, and launching an espresso machine to the ISS only to realize that no one though about pressure. The launch got postponed though, you better call up NASA and ask them if anyone thought of pressure before it's too late. Feel free to offer your own expertise.
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I hope it avoids making something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee.
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While you are correct in that there are easier ways to make coffee in zero g, I think that this is a much broader experiment.
We're testing boiling points in space, the ability to maintain pressure in a zero g environment, and a lot more sciencey things. Getting a cuppa joe at the end is just a nice bonus.