Beer in Space: Government rubbishes mystery around brewery on moon

It was Adhikari, a former union minister of state who asked Narendra Modi government whether an Indian spacecraft was planning to brew beer on the moon.

Is an Indian Spacecraft really planning to brew beer on the moon? Is that a possible feat considering there is no gravitational force? Won’t the astronauts get high and forget their way back home? Just kidding there! Well, thanks to Trinamool Congress MP Sisir Kumar Adhikari we know that there are sure plans to set a brewery in space! While there have been talks about sending humans to Mars, brewing beer on the moon is new to us. In the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Adhikari, a former union minister of state, asked Narendra Modi government whether an Indian spacecraft was planning to brew beer on the moon. The Trinamool Congress member of parliament from West Bengal’s Kanthi asked: “Whether an Indian Spacecraft is planning to brew beer on the moon, if so, the details of research plan and viability of yeast test therefor and the universal rules on moon lander therein?

While other pressing issues are generally discussed in the Parliament, very rarely do we come across ministers who ask such questions. Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said that a private team is participating in a competition that can build a spacecraft for a soft landing on the moon and they are also planning an experiment to brew beer using yeast.

Here is what Singh’s response read, “There is no plan to brew beer on the moon by any spacecraft to be made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). However, Team Indus, a privately funded team under the Axiom Research Labs Pvt. Ltd., is competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition towards building a spacecraft capable of soft landing and roving on the Moon. The spacecraft is proposed to be launched onboard ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) under a commercial launch agreement. As understood from media reports that, Team Indus is proposing an experiment to brew beer on the Moon using yeast.” European space agency to help NASA take humans beyond moon

As understood, the aim of this experiment is to test and observe the survivability of yeast in space and how it performs under Moon’s gravity conditions. The experiment plans to brew a small batch of beer in space.

(c) The activities in Outer Space including moon and other celestial bodies are governed by UN treaties on Outer space activities namely – (i) Outer Space Treaty, 1967, (ii) Moon Agreement 1979. Further, the protection of planetary environment is governed by COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy 2002.

These treaties and policies govern the scientific exploratory activities in outer space, moon and other celestial bodies using human made spacecraft, landers, rovers etc., without causing harmful contaminations to the environment in outer space, moon and other celestial bodies and to Earth as well by bringing extra-terrestrial materials. Such activities need to be authorized by the State concerned.“