This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work - for YOU.
Commercialization

CASIS Still Ignores Commercial Research on ISS

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 7, 2015
Filed under ,
CASIS Still Ignores Commercial Research on ISS

Whisky goes where no dram has gone before, Guardian
“Whisky fired into space almost four years ago as part of an experiment has returned to Earth with enhanced flavour and character, according to its creator. A vial of unmatured malt from the Ardbeg distillery on Islay, Scotland, was sent to the International Space Station in a cargo spacecraft in October 2011, along with particles of charred oak. Another vial of the same whisky was kept at the distillery for comparison. … Dr Bill Lumsden, Ardbeg’s director of distilling, said: “The space samples were noticeably different. When I nosed and tasted the space samples, it became clear that much more of Ardbeg’s smoky, phenolic character shone through to reveal a different set of smoky flavours which I have not encountered here on Earth before.”
ISS Commercial Research That CASIS Utterly Ignores, Earlier post (2014)
“This is an interesting commercial use of the ISS – if somewhat unconventional – one that has attracted actual private investment (from a high-quality, high-visibility, world-class manufacturer) at a time when NASA’s scorecard is rather lacking in this regard. Imagine this: an actual biotech process that is being investigated in the unqiue environment of space with significant commercial backing and promotion. Of course, the NASA ISS National Lab and CASIS folks seem to be totally uninterested in how real commercial space activities happen.”
Keith’s note: CASIS still utterly ignores this whole project – but focuses instead on their golf game in space. Fermentation, distillation, and aging – regardless of what you are producing – are key industrial processes on Earth – ones that involve a lot of precise biochemistry. If something works differently in the space environment then that helps to expand the knowledge of microgravity-based biochemistry (both basic and applied) and the entire field moves ahead. Not so with the space-inspired golf clubs that actually do not use ISS-based research – which is what CASIS is supposed to be promoting.
Funny thing: this Ardbeg research was all done via Nanoracks – the one clear ISS success story that CASIS has had anything to do with. Oh .. but wait – this experiment was done via the ISS National Laboratory – not CASIS – so its the established policy of CASIS to ignore it. Come to think of it, the ISS National Lab people have not been chatty about this success story either.
Oh yes: when I first posted this photoshopped image in 2012 some people within NASA thought it was real and started to try and figure out how it happend i.e. a glass bottle [safety] with a brand name [no agreement?] freely floating around the ISS. Memos and phone calls happend. Oops.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

15 responses to “CASIS Still Ignores Commercial Research on ISS”

  1. Rich_Palermo says:
    0
    0

    Sounds like an experiment in whisky aging vs. fermentation.

    • kcowing says:
      0
      0

      Well, there’s the issue of mixing forces – ones on Earth such as convection are not present but others are. And its how things move about in the barrel as the whisky ages that makes all the difference. Distillation is a high art so these little things matter – and the reasons why are elusive and/or highly guarded. That said, its complicated chemistry and its being done in a novel environment. I’d be astonished if something new was not learned – and a private company paid for it without any “help” from CASIS.

      • Rich_Palermo says:
        0
        0

        I’m taking distillation to mean the separation of the alcohol from other components. Perhaps you mean distillation as the end-to-end process in making the spirt.

        From what I understand:
        Fermentation generates the alcohol and the alcohol is distilled. The distillate is placed into charred wooden casks and allowed to exchange with the cask _and_ the atmosphere.

        They did compare equivalent items in this experiment, though: Liquids with charcoal in sealed (glass?) bottles.

        How that ties into actual aging with the surface-to-volume ratios, time factors, and local atmospheric conditions is anyone’s guess. Especially when the analysis is a subjective evaluation by someone involved in the experiment.

    • Rich_Palermo says:
      0
      0

      Could’ve sworn the Note only referred to fermentation when I first saw it…

  2. Zafflebif says:
    0
    0

    Did the bottle on Earth age more because of relativistic effects?

    • Rich_Palermo says:
      0
      0

      I think time runs faster on orbit. But, you’re onto something. Wouldn’t the high dollar/space tourism crowd pay a premium for space-aged whisky?

      • DTARS says:
        0
        0

        I think the Space age tourism crowd would love to eat many different kinds of food GROWN in space you don’t want to spend millions to go to orbit to eat powdered crap like tang.

    • Reavenk says:
      0
      0

      Did it age more? I only read that it turned out different.

      It’s more probably (my guess) because the microgravity on the station changes the behavior of fluids – so fermenting bacteria’s stimulus, stresses, and signals from convection, sedimentation and hydro-static pressure are different – which changes their behavior.

  3. Daniel Woodard says:
    0
    0

    if NASA policy permits purely commercial payloads, ahy not purely commercial tourists/

  4. Jafafa Hots says:
    0
    0

    So this was a double-blind test with multiple subjects and proper controls, right?

    Not just a marketing BS thing like the Space Coke versus Space Pepsi thing from 1984?

    (I used to have one of those Space Shuttle Pepsi cans from that taste test on the shuttle. It worked like a can of mousse. Remember mousse? Anyway, I long sold it on eBay over 15 years ago.)

    • Daniel Woodard says:
      0
      0

      it was a commercial payload, not a NASA flight experiment, so the only NASA requirements are for safety and noninterference with other station activities. Marketing is fine as long as the
      NASA logo doesn’t appear. Does that mean they can use the worm, which NASA no longer uses?

      That said, there has been considerable debate regarding whether NASA research meets the requirements you mention.

  5. eljefe says:
    0
    0

    I make wine, but the many of the processes involved in making alcoholic beverages are similar across all types, especially aging. The description above tells me that Ardbeg sent up a freshly distilled malt beverage that had not seen any aging yet. It would be a clear liquid like vodka.

    Most wine and whisky (and a lot of other things) are aged in the presence of toasted oak. The oak is toasted because that caramelizes the starches in the wood and releases flavor compounds, especially the vanilla and buttery flavors we all like in our wine and whisky. We call it toasting but it is pretty close to a char.

    Traditionally you do this aging in new oak barrels but it is becoming more common to introduce toasted oak products into whatever container you are using. That’s what they did here.

    For purposes of sensory evaluation here double blind may not be required. These pros know how to taste and know how to identify flavors and aromas in the product. It’s more interesting to do that “eyes open” evaluation, rather than a blind “which one is better” evaluation.

    If I had to guess the zero-g product held the charred oak in suspension while the bottle on earth would tend to settle, thus a different level of infusion.

    Hope this helps – jeff

    • Rich_Palermo says:
      0
      0

      That clears up a lot of my questions, thank you. I am still not clear on why eyes open is better than blind but I’ve never been able to taste subtle differences in wine or spirits and that makes me suspicious of those that do.

      If adding toasted oak products is common, it seems like gentle agitation on the ground could keep the stuff suspended as well as on the ISS.

  6. Citizen Ken says:
    0
    0

    I’m reminded of International Flavors & Fragrances’ space rose research. (https://spinoff.nasa.gov/sp

    The great thing about micro-g research is that it is still such a largely untapped field. I’m especially excited about astro- and lunaculture. As access to space opens up to more non-traditional actors, we’re going to get a lot more really neat ideas coming to the fore.

    Were I in charge of CASIS, I would be focusing on suborbital micro-g research opportunities to provide a pipeline of high-merit research destined for orbit. I’d also have my Biz Dev guy constantly out at non-traditional industry trade shows looking for collaborative opportunities.

    I showed my support for the Ardbeg research by picking up a couple bottles of the Galileo issue a couple of years ago. (http://www.drinkspirits.com