A rocket recently loaded 12 pieces of wine and went to space. Of course, wine isn’t the only item that went into space. It also includes an oven for baking chocolate chip cookies.
The wine sent to the International Space Station is not for dinner for astronauts. It is to study how the environment of outer space affects wine. Several universities are involved in this project, which is being run by Space Cargo Unlimited. Among them is the Institute of Grape Wine Studies at the University of Bordeaux, France.
The wine sent to the International Space Station is aged for one year in an environment of 18 degrees Celsius, and then returned to Earth to compare with the wine aged at the same temperature. In fact, this is not the first time wine has been launched into space. Wine was launched into space in 1985 and returned to Earth in 2015.
According to NASA, wine launched into space is stored in a special case (Complex Microbiological System, CommuBioS). Scientists are trying to study how weightlessness and cosmic radiation affect changes in wines such as polyphenols and bitter taste. The findings of this study could provide clues to improving how long-term food is preserved in outer space and how agriculture on Earth adapts to climate change.
Nicolas Gaume, CEO of Space Cargo Unlimited, said aged wines contain essential elements of the ecology such as yeast, bacteria and polyphenols. It is planning space research into food and agriculture as part of the WISE project over the next three years. Related information can be found here .