Ian O'Neill

The Link Between Beer and the Colonization of Space

A Japanese brewery has successfully produced 100 litres of Space Beer. Hurrah!

The beer won’t actually be consumed in space (which seems a shame somehow), but it was made totally from barley grown on the International Space Station. For a lucky few, 60 people will get to sample the beer in Tokyo next month. So, what can they expect?

Alas, there won’t be much difference between the Sapporo Brewery’s 100% space barley brew when compared with a terrestrial grain as there is no measured difference in the DNA of barley grown in space when compared with barley grown on Earth. Therefore I doubt there will be any “eureka!” moment for the alcoholic beverage industry and therefore no immediate plans to launch a micro(gravity)brewery into orbit…

That said, this isn’t just a publicity stunt. The barley was grown as part of a joint Japanese/Russian experiment to test the suitability of certain crops to be grown in space. Along with the barley; wheat, peas and lettuce were also harvested. In previous tests, a Canadian research paper was presented revealing no difference between the DNA of barley grown in space when compared to the stuff grown on Earth. Although this kinda takes away from the possibility that space barley could make a better beer, it is reassuring to know that terrestrial foodstuffs can be grown in space with minimal risk of mutation (and possible hazardous side effects to space traveller’s health). Obviously more work will need to be done, with several generations of the same plant re-cultivated and harvested, but these first results are very exciting.

Hold on. Exciting? Why?

This is another step in the direction of a reduced dependence on Earth for the supply of food. If a Japanese brewery can produce 100 litres of beer from ingredients grown in space, we’ve made an important leap into the production of other consumables from ingredients grown in space. Imagine what this means for the future of mankind when we begin setting up colonies on the Moon and, eventually (in my lifetime I hope!) on Mars. The vision of cultivating food on other planets becomes one step closer to reality.

This is one of the International Space Station’s key strengths. It is a long-term scientific mission to assess man’s adaptability to a space-based environment. Growing barley in space is therefore not a commercial venture (Sapporo is not selling any of the Space Beer it produces, although the company will most certainly profit from some good exposure in the media), it is a critical step in our space-faring ability. Add this success to the recent installation of the urine recycling system added as part of the STS-126 shuttle mission to the ISS and you can see that we are beginning to cut the umbilical cord that prevents long-term manned space travel.

Hopefully, within 20 years, these techniques will have been perfected, allowing mankind to begin work on other planets, ultimately setting up self-sustaining colonies throughout the Solar System.

And all this excitement from the production of a small quantity of Space Beer…

For more, read my Universe Today article Cheers! Japanese Brewery Produces Space Beer… But What’s the Point?…

Carnival of Space Week 82 – Space Disco

For this week’s Carnival, we are in for a visual delight! For the first time, we have a video stocked full with the weekly run-down of what’s new, fresh and interesting across the entire space blogosphere. Your host this week is my friend Dave Mosher, producer of Discovery Space and blogger for the excellent Space Disco. Being superbly organized, Dave works through a huge number of blogs and includes a transcript of his videofied Carnival. A great, entertaining 3 minuites and 9 seconds, with a peek into Dave’s home in New York.

Dave has raised the Carnival of Space bar very high… I wonder who can top it? I have one idea on how it could be done, but I’ll save that until I get my turn of being host again (although that might be some time…).

But for now, jet over to Space Disco and enjoy. From Astroengine.com, I included my thoughts on the Mars Science Laboratory and why NASA might not be on the correct track…

Astroengine.com Nominated for Best Space Blog!

Wow. That was unexpected! Astroengine has been nominated under the category of “Best Space Blog” on the award site Blognet!

Awesome. Well, I’m not sure what to say about that apart from “thank you” to the wonderfully cool person who anonymously left an awesome review of my site, and then a really nice follow-up review from one of Blognet’s admin staff. Thank you!

I’m not entirely sure how the award-choosing will unfold, but more blogs will be nominated in time (for now, it’s just Astroengine, enjoying the limelight, by itself), but keep an eye open and vote when/if you can. I wont be exchanging votes for money, but I’ll try to boost the content of Astroengine so it is a contender for the prize 🙂

Thank you to the anonymous lady who nominated me! You’re a star (and not just any normal star, my favourite, the Wolf-Rayet star!).

Guest Appearance on the TV Show Uncommon Sense, Episode 25

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=8100079692886403358&hl=en&fs=true

Following hot on the heels of episode #24 of Uncommon Sense, both Charles Parselle and myself discussed another batch of topics chosen by host Charlotte Laws. This time, we started out with politics (my personal favourite as you will probably tell from my expression, and the background to this can be found in my recent article “Politics Has Nothing To Do With Space Exploration” – Debate (Wear Safety Goggles)), where I had a rant about NASA (although I wish I’d studied Obama’s space policies more thoroughly!), then we drifted into the reasons why women dressed in red are more attractive to men, how deadly Black Friday became this year, alternative therapies (cue: rant about the perceived risk of radiation) and robotic soldiers.

Once again, Charles and I had little clue about what we’d be talking about, so there was a lot of spontaneous fun to be had. Thank you Charlotte again for inviting me on Uncommon Sense and for being a superb host, I think it’s a great format worthy of a prime time slot (I think we’ve found a replacement for The View!).

Guest Appearance on the TV Show Uncommon Sense, Episode 24

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-7201404295940651537&hl=en&fs=true

On Friday I was invited to appear on a local chat show called Uncommon Sense hosted by Charlotte Laws. Actually, I participated in two episodes back to back, discussing a whole host of topics. Uncommon Sense, broadcast over cable in the Los Angeles area, basically takes the form of a topic-based talk show where two guests have little idea about what is going to be discussed. It makes for a lively, fun and spontaneous show; I really, really enjoyed it. Plus it was a great chance to talk about something other than space science (although I did try to slip space in at any chance I had!).

For this 24th episode, it was a British-dominated affair with Charles Parselle, Charlotte and myself debating everything from daylight savings time influencing health/depression, child abandonment laws, cyber-bullying and cyberphobia (watch how I expertly forced my views on the 2012 Mayan prophecy into the end of the show! The hands say it all…). I was pretty clueless about the first two topics, which was fun in itself, but I got on my high-horse when we jumped into more familiar territory: cyberspace. Be sure to watch the whole thing, episode #24 leads very nicely into #25 (which I’ll post right now)…

Thank you Charlotte for inviting me on Uncommon Sense and thank you Charles for the debate and British camaraderie!

Yet Another Fireball and Explosion, Over Colorado

Video of the fireball event over Colorado (Chris Peterson)

Early this morning, a huge explosion lit up the Colorado skies. According to one observatory that videoed the event with its ever-watching all-sky camera, the fireball (or bolide) peak brightness (magnitude -18) exceeded the brightness of a full Moon 100 times. An awesome event. The Cloudbait Observatory, near Denver, is calling on eye-witnesses to submit their reports so possible meteorite fragments can be found on the ground. Only last month, a similar effort resulted in Canadian meteorite hunters finding over two dozen fragments from the Saskatchewan fireball.

For all the information about the Colorado event, check out my Universe Today article Exploding Colorado Fireball, 100 Times Brighter than the Moon (Video).

I must admit though (as one of my readers pointed out), it is surprising to hear about this recent flurry of large fireball events. Some of these meteoroids are as big as 10 tonnes (in the case of the Saskatchewan fireball), and scattered meteorites are being found on the ground (fortunately over sparsely populated regions). Are these recent series of fireball spottings down to improved observation techniques and a bit of luck? After all, the October fireball was observed directly over several all-sky cameras dedicated to spotting meteors; the November fireball was seen by a huge number of people in cities across the Saskatchewan/Alberta border and last night’s fireball appeared above another dedicated meteor all-sky camera.

A few of these events are expected every year, so this is certainly nothing to be concerned about, we’re just getting better at observing these transient events…

The Cancer Spreads: Mars Science Laboratory Delayed Until 2011

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project is failing. But it is not suffering from technical failure en-route to the Red Planet, it hasn’t gotten itself stuck in a Martian sand-trap, it hasn’t even fallen foul of the “Galactic Ghoul”; the MSL is suffering from an overlooked space exploration hazard: bad management. According to today’s (not unexpected) NASA announcement, the MSL will not be launched until 2011.

I had a very bad feeling about today’s press conference, and it looks like my fears were justified. Due to technical difficulties, the launch of the MSL is being delayed by two years, as the overrun will ensure the mission misses the next Mars launch window. So I have to ask: why is an over-budget, behind schedule, poorly managed mission being allowed to sap the budgets of other NASA programs when the solution is so obvious?
Continue reading “The Cancer Spreads: Mars Science Laboratory Delayed Until 2011”

Interview with World of Weird Things: Colonizing Space, at a Profit

A manned outpost, could be a reality if the business opportunities are there.

This morning I had a thought-provoking interview with Greg Fish, owner and writer for the superb website World of Weird Things. Greg wanted to get my insight to the world of commercial spaceflight and future colonization of other worlds, writing up a brilliant article called Colonizing Space, At A Profit based on my interview.

We examined the benefits mankind can reap from the exploration of space, but the responsibility of doing so is not exclusive to NASA or any other government-funded agency. The future of spaceflight rests in the hands of entrepreneurs, enthusiasts, and primarily, businessmen. Manned exploration of the Moon, Mars and the asteroid belt could open a new frontier of mineral exploitation, in turn opening a new era for mankind. It may be our best hope in the long-run to survive as a race.

We could be on the verge of a Solar System-wide “gold rush”, it just depends who will be the first to have the vision for such an endeavour.

“If you were the company to build the first colony on Mars, the planet is all yours for the taking,” – quote from Colonizing Space, At A Profit, on World of Weird Things

Thank you Greg for wanting to speak with me, and for preparing a very inspiring interview! Be sure to check out World of Weird Things, there are some very interesting articles and essays, delving into a huge array of topics, each written with a high degree of thought and intellect. A firm favourite on my reading list.

Astroengine Live #3: The Search for Life, What’s the Point?

Listen to Astroengine Live, today at 4pm PST (7pm EST).

Today’s Astroengine Live was going to be devoted to a discussion about the search for extraterrestrial life in the Universe, but the alien amoeba will have to make room for some news from the entire space blogosphere in this week’s Carnival of Space, plus a bonus look into the world of space tourism. Yesterday (Tuesday), I had the superb opportunity to attend XCOR’s press conference in Beverly Hills where a new partner was announced, my colleague Angela and I had a chat to a Shuttle astronaut and we found out a little more about the future of “cheap” (if you have $95,000 in your piggy bank that is) access to space.

So, tune in to WPRT Radio at 4pm PST to get your weekly dose of Astroengine Live!

Get Involved!

Is the search for extraterrestrials really worth it? How would mankind benefit if aliens were discovered? Have an opinion? Email me on astro@wprtradio.com and I’ll be sure to give you mention. Eventually, I hope to have telephone call-ins, but for now, email will do. For your reference, check out my article: The Search For Life, What’s the Point?. Feel free to comment on any points raised…

Listen to Astroengine Live using your default streaming audio player.