The beer giant paid attention to the Red Planet. Budweiser and CASIS agreed to see how experiments at the International Space Station can be used to improve products and processes in the company.
Budweiser set out to brew beer on Mars.
Beer King announced its Bud on Mars initiative, which includes a partnership that will lead to flight malt and other experiments on the ISS. This was told on Saturday (March 11) at the South by Southwest festival in Austin (TX).
“Budweiser is looking into the future of colonization,” said Valerie Tutman, vice president of marketing innovation, who participated in a discussion on brewing beer on the Red Planet. “We know that a trip to Mars can come true in two years or 10 years. But this is the first step in the company's long-term work to make sure that when we reach the American dream, people will enjoy our beer on an alien planet. ”
A special event dedicated to the project included the presence of cosmonaut Clayton Anderson and the marketing and communications development manager at the US National Space Laboratory at CASIS Patrick O'Neill. Actress Kate Mara, who played the astronaut in the movie “Martian”, moderated the meeting.
“It’s flattering to be here, but I don’t feel qualified enough,” Mara said. - “However, I will repeat what I did in Martian: I pretend that I am a genius in matters of space.”
Belching and hops
Sending people to Mars is a detailed NASA long-term plan. This was reported by Anderson, who is a veteran of two space missions, including 152 days spent on the ISS. “A successful mission will include many components, including providing people with a product reminiscent of a home. And why shouldn't Budweiser be one of them? ”. “Despite the fact that the idea creates various technical problems, the concept deserves consideration in terms of a commercial partnership,” Anderson added.
Besides the possible moment with “wet belching” (“you just fall several times, and all the fluid in your stomach separates from the air, and then you burp out a solid dry burp,” the Anderson group says with a chuckle) and there is also a problem with the containers. During the use of space shuttles, astronauts experimented with carbonated soft drinks in the 1980s, but banks, cups and other devices failed the test.
“When you drink beer on Earth, when you open the lid, the liquid rushes out. However, such a manipulation in space will make you clean up the room for a long time, ”said Anderson, who wrote about his experience with alcohol in orbit in the book Ordinary Cosmonaut. “This is an interesting dilemma for engineers at Anheuser-Busch.”
Gravity on Mars (1/3 of Earth's) can affect the change of ingredients in cooking on the planet itself.
Classic American beer consists of two- and six-row malts, rice, hops and multiplies from the original yeast strain, which Alfred Bush first used in 1876. And this is only 10% of the recipe.
“Beer is 90% water,” said Tutman. “But is it on Mars?” How many, and what other sources can I use? ”.
Budweiser “Bud on Mars” logo.
Bud on Mars for the good of the Earth
“My engineers are working on how to recreate beer on colonized Mars,” said Tutman.
Although it may be decades before the dream of colonization comes true, the company is already identifying short-term research that will help advance a long-term goal, increasing the popularity of the brand today. “It’s important to understand what will make our product on Earth more efficient,” Tutman said.
Budweiser and CASIS recently agreed to explore how the US National Laboratory and the ISS can be used to improve the products and processes of the brewing industry.
“CASIS are used to looking for new and non-traditional partners interested in using the orbital laboratory,” said O'Neill. ““ Not a single flight project has been selected yet, but we are always happy to engage in communication with unique brands that are interested in microgravity research. ”
“We have already started planning a series of experiments to deliver barley malt to the ISS. This will help to understand what effect the conditions of low terrestrial orbits on grains have, ”said Tutman. “Then we will return the grains to Earth, plant, grow, and test.”
Such an experiment, along with long-term studies on genotyping and DNA, will help create the final barley strain that is resistant to disease, dryness and high yields.
