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Imagine starting your day without any coffee. Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Tim Hortons and vany other chains thrive on our coffee addiction. Add to that the fact that many of us have already had a cup or two even before venturing out to get a cup from one of those chains. Well, an Anonymous Coward has written in to tell us of some hard-working folks who had to give up real coffee for months at a time!
For years, the hard-working astronauts aboard the ISS had to begin their day with freeze-dried, reconstituted coffee served in plastic pouches. Now, this gross injustice may finally be remedied. The resupply mission scheduled to be launched today (Tuesday) will carry a new model of space espresso maker. Manufactured by Lavazza and the Italian aerospace firm Argotec, the machine is specially designed for microgravity operation, and uses off-the-shelf Lavazza coffee packets.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday April 16 2015, @07:59PM
given the cost per kilo to put something into orbit this is such a waste of money. Think about how much really useful stuff they could send up. And then there is the volume of the device, what else could they fit into that area that could actually be useful?
This feels like more of a PR stunt of some kind than anything meaningful.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday April 16 2015, @09:25PM
Think about how much really useful stuff they could send up.
I do not know what science the ISS crew is doing. I am not even sure that they do any useful science at all. Nothing of public interest was reported for two decades. All notable discoveries in space are done by remote probes and orbital telescopes. To me it looks like the ISS crew is only doing the maintenance. If so, coffee is the most useful stuff that can be sent to the ISS :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2015, @02:54PM
Educate yourself: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/experiments_hardware.html [nasa.gov]
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday April 17 2015, @03:17AM
Morale is really useful when you have people in a confined and difficult environment for months at a time.
It may not have been at all wasteful. Not every flight is maxed out, the espresso machine and supplies might represent what would have otherwise been wasted capacity.