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JAXA Prepares To Try Making Whiskey In Space

schwit1 writes: An experiment to test how whiskey ages in weightlessness is about to begin on ISS: "H-II Transfer Vehicle No. 5, commonly known as "Kounotori5" or HTV5, was launched on Wednesday from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center carrying alcohol beverages produced by Suntory to the Japanese Experiment Module aboard the International Space Station, where experiments on the "development of mellowness" will be conducted for a period of about one year in Group 1 and for two or more years (undecided) in Group 2." Don't worry, the astronauts on ISS won't be getting drunk. After the test period is complete the samples will then returned to Earth, untasted, where they will then be compared with control samples.

67 comments

  1. I know what whiskey is, but Making? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does it taste good?

    1. Re:I know what whiskey is, but Making? by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

      Making tastes, good.

      --
      I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  2. drunks.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was the author drinking, whiskey when they titled this submission

    1. Re:drunks.. by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Was the author drinking, whiskey when they titled this submission

      I would think so, given that they are shipping already created whiskey up there to sit in zero G... This is about aging booze in zero-G, not creating it there. Having toured a distillery, I can tell you gravity is a very required component in fractional distillation... And during aging gravity helps move the alcohol inside the barrel, via convection.

      The title really had me thinking about how you do fractional distillation when there's really no force separating liquid from vapor. Maybe you could use a laser or concentrated sunlight to heat the outside edge of a floating glob of wort and draw the vapor off with vacuum device... I don't think heating the whole mess to boiling would be very productive.

      One interesting thing about getting out of a gravity well is everything we ever did before has to be adjusted for the lack of this pull we have been tied to forever. Maybe new alloys could be formed, or other chemical reactions might produce altered results, all from the lack of having a separating force missing from the process.

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    2. Re:drunks.. by Immerman · · Score: 2

      Well, for maost everything that we use gravity for, a centrifuge can do the job better. It's just that we have free gravity everywhere on earth, so building centrifuges isn't cost-effective unless gravity just isn't up to the task. In space, well, suddenly centrifuges have a lot more to offer. Which is why the traditional science fiction space station spins.

      Where things get interesting is, as you point out, exploring what's possible in freefall.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    3. Re:drunks.. by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      I did think about spinning a still... but it would have to maintain a steady temperature so that means spinning it in evenly heated air, or spinning it in a vacuum and putting the heaters on the inside (ok until cleaning time). Also, to get a meaningful amount of product it would be best to have a spinning space station... otherwise you have a giant gyro inside your habitat and that could turn maneuvering suddenly (to avoid space junk for example) into an exciting game of "Oh Crap, we can't go (x) direction unless we stop the 1000 kg still from rotating first... and that action alone is going to move the space station in some manner!" Really you get the same issue with a spinning space station, large gyros do not like to be pushed, unless you do it in an exact manner.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    4. Re:drunks.. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      One interesting thing about getting out of a gravity well is everything we ever did before has to be adjusted for the lack of this pull we have been tied to forever. Maybe new alloys could be formed, or other chemical reactions might produce altered results, all from the lack of having a separating force missing from the process.

      Interesting thoughts.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re:drunks.. by blackanvil · · Score: 1

      Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Bill Suttons "The Terriffic Centrifrugal Still" which addresses your microgravity distillation questions and soothes your fears about the availability of booze in space. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    6. Re:drunks.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In order to MAKE whiskey, one of the steps is aging the whiskey.

  3. It was only a matter of time by dfn5 · · Score: 4, Funny

    before NASA got into the Moonshine business. Astronaut Jim Bob was quoted as "I'd like to see those damned revenuers catch me here".

    --
    -- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
    1. Re:It was only a matter of time by Adriax · · Score: 3, Funny

      There's one way to advance space flight and colonize the solar system. Moonshiners looking for a place to run their stills, and tax men following close behind.
      We'd have colonies on mars growing modified corn within 10 years.

      The other would be to allow porn to be made on the ISS.
      Nothing spurs innovation like the quest for kinkier smut.

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
    2. Re:It was only a matter of time by eric_harris_76 · · Score: 1

      Someone even wrote a book about that. I don't recall the title, but it was something like "Drugs, Sex, Rock and Roll: Advancing Technology Via Debauchery, Through The Ages".

      Well, the title was tamer than that. But that gives the flavor of the content. There was not much of a lag between the first photographs and the first "French postcards", between the first home video equipment and the first cottage industry porn, etc.

      --
      There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
    3. Re:It was only a matter of time by eric_harris_76 · · Score: 1
      --
      There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
    4. Re:It was only a matter of time by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Advancing Technology Via Debauchery

      That is a good title. Now all you need to do is write the book. Guaranteed best seller.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  4. Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "untasted"

    1. Re:Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering this is done by the Japanese, it is easy to say it will be untasted. The thing is, is that once it gets back down here, it will likely sell for an incredibly high price no matter how bad it turns out. Everyone is weak to rare things, them more so than most it seems.

    2. Re: Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wanna bet?

  5. Dice tries making, Slashdot into "better" site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And fails miserably

  6. I believe you mean ... by John+Jorsett · · Score: 1

    WHISKEY. IN. SPAAAAAACE!

  7. I'll be editing, Slashdot really poorly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Original headline:

    JAXA Prepares To Try Making, Whiskey In Space

    Timmah!

  8. Re:Extraneous commas are for cows. by TWX · · Score: 1

    You know, this novelty troll is actually starting to grow on me. I'm pretty sure there isn't a bot involved as the subject is derived from the article but not directly taken from it and the content of the post changes a bit each time.

    So much better than the goatlemongirl posts we used to get...

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  9. SO? Can you by Grand+Facade · · Score: 2

    grow better weed in space?

    --
    Rick B.
    1. Re:SO? Can you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought the better weed was grown in BC?

  10. Suntory Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Flying Mars in a good company? It's Suntory time! Having just docked your pod into a Venus High Altitude Atmospheric Orbiter? It's Suntory time! Suntory, for that mellower space experience. (Remember responsible spaceflight, excessive Suntory consumption may cause spontaneous flying into the Sun.)

  11. But what about the tiny screws? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Good to know they're not wasting time and money on trivial things that won't benefit the human race in any meaningful way.

    Next up: can ants be trained to sort tiny screws in space?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:But what about the tiny screws? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People spend very large sums of money on "special" whiskies. Space Whiskey would be highly prized, providing the taste is reasonable.

      If people can't work out how to make money in space, space exploration will slow down or stop completely.

    2. Re:But what about the tiny screws? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      People spend very large sums of money on "special" whiskies. Space Whiskey would be highly prized, providing the taste is reasonable.

      If people can't work out how to make money in space, space exploration will slow down or stop completely.

      There is a difference between genuine economic activityy in space and ripping off gullible idiots.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  12. I For One, Welcome Our New Insect Overlords by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    hail ants

  13. Astronauts Smith and Ivan blurted out by linear+a · · Score: 1

    Astronauts Smith and Ivan blurted out "in free fall you have to wrap the neck of the flask, too."

  14. They are missing a perfect opportunity... by mordjah · · Score: 2

    to conduct testing on the effects of alcohol on the human body while weightless!
    Well... Can you come up with a better excuse...err.. reason to sample some of this before it leaves orbit?

    --
    "A mind reader? That sounds like sci fi." "Honey, we live on a space ship"
    1. Re:They are missing a perfect opportunity... by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1, Informative

      They are missing a perfect opportunity to conduct testing on the effects of alcohol on the human body while weightless!

      You do realize half the station personnel at any time are Russian, right? And that they get a personal baggage allowance? Which is inspected by other Russians? That was practically the first experiment conducted on the human body in space, aside from just living and breathing.

    2. Re:They are missing a perfect opportunity... by Chelloveck · · Score: 1

      They are missing a perfect opportunity to conduct testing on the effects of alcohol on the human body while weightless!

      You do realize half the station personnel at any time are Russian, right? And that they get a personal baggage allowance? Which is inspected by other Russians? That was practically the first experiment conducted on the human body in space, aside from just living and breathing.

      "Results inconclusive. More testing needed."

      --
      Chelloveck
      I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
  15. Alcohol-free Whiskey by gavron · · Score: 1

    I love Scotch Whiskey (or the Japanese Scotch-style whiskey) but the doc says no more alcohol.

    Here on Earth we make non-alcoholic drinks by removing the alcohol. Typically this requires
    either high heat (ruins the taste) or high pressure (reverse osmosis).

    However, while we need high pressure because our atmosphere already has pressure, out in
    space they don't need very much pressure at all if they depressurize the low side of the
    filter. So they could set up a container with two chambers separated by an RO filter and an
    air chamber, put it out in space, and let the vacuum of space draw out the non-alcohol whiskey.

    It would be a greater pressure differential than we can do here on earth -- 1 : near zero atmos
    vs N : 1 atmos.

    That would be a fun thing to taste. I mean test.

    E

    1. Re:Alcohol-free Whiskey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You would get the same differential pressure increase on earth by simply adding an additional 14 PSI on the high pressure side. Space doesn't gain you anything.

    2. Re:Alcohol-free Whiskey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Couldn't you just leave some water in a whiskey cask for 6 months?

    3. Re:Alcohol-free Whiskey by maeka · · Score: 1

      It would be a greater pressure differential than we can do here on earth -- 1 : near zero atmos
      vs N : 1 atmos.

      1 atmosphere of pressure is trivial.

      So insanely trivial that even come free energy and a space elevator it will be cheaper to pressurize a R.O. chamber on Earth to N+14psi than it will be to lift said chamber to where there is near zero atmospheric pressure.

    4. Re: Alcohol-free Whiskey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ignore the doc. You will die anyway.

    5. Re: Alcohol-free Whiskey by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Ignore the doc. You will die anyway.

      Yeah, YOLO right?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    6. Re:Alcohol-free Whiskey by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      So they could set up a container with two chambers separated by an RO filter and an air chamber, put it out in space, and let the vacuum of space draw out the non-alcohol whiskey.

      You would need a semi-permeable membrane which passed everything except (ethyl) alcohol. In particular, the higher alcohols and poly-alcohols which are major components of the flavours of whiskeys (real ones, or Japanese ones). That is actually a pretty severe requirement, because most semi-permeable membranes achieve their separating effects by physical mechanisms, frequently passing molecules of only a set range of sizes. That's not a lot of use if you want to pass, say, propan-2-ol but not pass ethanol.

      Carrying out low-temperature distillation with the abundant vacuum of space and good fractionation would be simpler, if for some incomprehensible reason you wanted to produce (ethyl) alcohol-free whiskey. But to be honest, I suspect it'd taste pretty bowfing (Scottish for "vomit-inducing").

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  16. Experiment results by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK, here's the results of the experiment. Whiskey inexplicably evaporates completely when stored in a microgravity environment shared with humans. If launched into separate environment that the humans cannot access, the whiskey doesn't evaporate.

  17. Well-earned dividends by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 2

    It's valuable technology spinoffs like this zero-g whiskey that justify the taxpayers shelling out over $100B on the ISS.

    If it weren't for our robust support of manned space flight, mankind might never get the benefits of zero-g wiskey, and that would be a shame.

    1. Re:Well-earned dividends by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Little do you know, space-whiskey actually grants immortality and mutant powers. This is the first step to the new Ubermensch empire.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    2. Re:Well-earned dividends by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From TFA, which you haven't read,

      The Suntory Group aims to use these experiments to help find a scientific explanation for the âoemechanism that makes alcohol mellow.â

      You know, that is a multi-billion dollar industry. If science can figure out the mechanism behind this, and the hypothesis is that in space these molecular structures will grow much faster, then you can probably artificially "age" wine and other alcohols. A 1-year-old wine could be more "aged" than a 100-year-old one.

      If Japan ends up with a process that allows for 100-year-ageing to happen within a few months, then that will literally pay for ISS in storage costs alone within a few years.

    3. Re:Well-earned dividends by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      It's valuable technology spinoffs like this zero-g whiskey that justify the taxpayers shelling out over $100B on the ISS.

      But if you get the taxpayers tanked on this stuff . . . they won't give a damn either way . . .

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    4. Re:Well-earned dividends by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 1

      Indeed. The that's why this nation's founders defined the three major functions of the federal government:
      1. National defense
      2. International relations
      3. Assisting the foreign high-end liquor industry in any way possible

    5. Re:Well-earned dividends by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, that is a multi-billion dollar industry. If science can figure out the mechanism behind this, and the hypothesis is that in space these molecular structures will grow much faster, then you can probably artificially "age" wine and other alcohols. A 1-year-old wine could be more "aged" than a 100-year-old one.

      If Japan ends up with a process that allows for 100-year-ageing to happen within a few months, then that will literally pay for ISS in storage costs alone within a few years.

      O, that's what they meant with “For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.”, this must have been somehow lost in translation!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQnH450hPM

  18. Big Deal by Pop69 · · Score: 1

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-s...

    Was done years ago with real malt whisky

    1. Re:Big Deal by jordanjay29 · · Score: 1

      Any good science experiment is repeatable.

  19. Ardbeg... by grahamtriggs · · Score: 1

    Ardbeg has already been to the ISS and back...

    http://www.ardbeg.com/ardbeg/a...

  20. They should try this with Aquavit by FeriteCore · · Score: 1

    Some varieties of aquavit are aged on a sea voyage to Australia and back again. On a sailing ship that usually meant a trip all the way around the world. A year on the ISS would be lots of trips around the world.

  21. Pedantic Bastard Mode on... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Japanese make whisky not whiskey.

    1. Re:Pedantic Bastard Mode on... by rstanley · · Score: 1

      I was going to post this myself, but you beat me to it!

      It is truly amazing how many people in the world do not know the difference between "Whisky" and "Whiskey"! Of course, the US blurs the distinction, as different whiskies distilled here, use different spellings!

      For the misinformed among us:
      Scotland, Japan, Canada, (Some) US and others use "Whisky".
      Ireland, (Most) US, and others use "Whiskey"

  22. Ahhhhh Cold Fusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unleash the space rednecks on the Zerg!

  23. "the astronauts on ISS won't be getting drunk." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really? I always assumed the Russians had an ongoing experiment to test that.

  24. Re:Extraneous commas are for cows. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

    You are all, cows. Cows, say moo. MOOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOO! Moo, cows, moo. Moo say, the cows. YOU, COWS!!

    Moocow man meets the Golden Girls

    Thank you for being a cow,

    Feeding everyone from then to now,

    You taste real good, boiled or broiled you're a tasty treat,

    And if we held a barby

    and cooked you up so carefully,

    You would see the biggest burps would come from me,

    and then all my guests would say,

    Thank you for being a cow.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  25. Meanwhile on Earth... by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

    we've been testing if whiskey can make you weightless.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  26. Re:Extraneous commas are for cows. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not a bot, it's a real live person. His or her's account is "sexconker".

  27. Fantastic. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

    Truly, the ISS is the gem of human scientific endeavor in space. Was that actually the most interesting microgravity experiment that anyone could think of to fill that chunk of payload space; or are they trying to land some corporate sponsors?

  28. Janx Spirit? by Tokolosh · · Score: 1

    "Oh don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
    No, don't you give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
    For my head will fly, my tongue will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die
    Won't you pour me one more of that sinful Old Janx Spirit"

    —An ancient Orion mining song

    Janx Spirit - almost exclusively referred to as "That Old Janx Spirit" - is an extremely potent alcoholic beverage, and is used heavily in drinking games that are played in the hyperspace ports that serve the madranite mining belts in the star system of Orion Beta.

    The game is not unlike the Earth game called Indian Wrestling, and is played like this:

    Two contestants sit at either side of a table, with a glass in front of each of them
    Between them would be placed a bottle of Janx Spirit.
    Each of the two contestants would then concentrate their will on the bottle and attempt to tip it and pour spirit into the glass of his opponent - who would then have to drink it.
    The bottle would then be refilled. The game would be played again. And again.
    Once you started to lose you would probably keep losing, because one of the effects of Janx Spirit is to depress telepsychic power. As soon as a predetermined quantity had been consumed, the final loser would have to perform a forfeit, which was usually obscenely biological.

    Ford Prefect usually played to lose.

    --
    Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
  29. at last by ihtoit · · Score: 1

    all those space Dollars finally put to good use.

    --
    Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
  30. Disco nhyet, disco nhyet! Sto gramm vodka, davai! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Don't worry, the astronauts on ISS won't be getting drunk

    If you believe that, I have a bridge from Kamchatka to Japan to sell you! The ISS is mostly western frills on a russian core and russians have been running space stations continuously for decades. Their cosmonauts spent all those long lonely months up there, mostly lacking female entertainment but instead sipping spiritual water, also nown as vodka.

    When the hungarian cosmonaut went up for a week-long "WARPAC friendship" flight in 1980, he brought tubed barack palinka (plum liquor) to the soviet space station.

    I would guess even today there are big saturday night parties up there on the ISS (and there are many nights and days every Saturday on a 95-minute orbiting outpost)! Every nation contributes their best of booze and nowadays even ladyfolk is provided: an italian astronautess returned not long ago.

  31. And They Said Space Was a Boondoggle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't they have any real science to do or whatnot?

  32. Hard hitting science by camg188 · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a publicity stunt.

  33. Hence, Lavian Brandy was born! by ChoosyBeggar · · Score: 1
  34. Gravity of the subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would extremely large vibrations during re-entry do anything to the whiskey to change its composition and/or taste? I imagine most gases would need to be evacuated from the finished product to prevent unnecessary frothing?