Straight Line of the Day: Wine has been launched into space. Next up…
NASA meets Napa:
Bordeaux Wine Fired Into Space To Test Ageing
decanter.com | November 5, 2019 | Chris MercerA Northrop Grumman rocket blasted off from a NASA launchpad in Virginia on 2 November, sending the Bordeaux wines into space among 3,700kg of research and supply cargo that also included a zero-gravity baking oven.
But the wines were not part of the International Space Station’s Christmas dinner planning; researchers hope to study how radiation in space affects the ageing process.
It is part of a project involving several universities, including the University of Bordeaux’s ISVV wine institute, and led by a start-up company named Space Cargo Unlimited.
The Bordeaux wines will be stored on the ISS at 18 degrees Celsius for one year before being returned to earth and compared to a control sample that has been kept at the same temperature, NASA said in an explainer article.
The name of the Château involved has not been released.
It’s not the first time that wine has been sent to space. Château Lynch-Bages saw its 1975 vintage launched into space aboard NASA’s Discovery shuttle in 1985, returning to earth in 2015.
What will be studied?
The Bordeaux wines will be stored in a ‘Complex Microbiological System’ – or CommuBioS – according to NASA.
Scientists were keen to study how radiation and microgravity affected components in the wine, such as polyphenols, crystals and tannins.
That could offer clues on how to improve long-term storage of food and drink in space and also how the agriculture sector on earth might adapt to climate change.
Emmanuel Etcheparre, co-founder of Space Cargo Unlimited alongside entrepreneur Nicolas Gaume, told France’s Sud Ouest newspaper, ‘Ageing wine incorporates some of the essential elements of the terrestrial biological ecosystem, such as yeasts, bacteria, crystals, colloids and polyphenols.’
Space Cargo Unlimited’s website contained plans of future space research missions related to food and agriculture, as part of its ‘WISE’ project, over the next three years. This is set to include an experiment on how plants react to microgravity.
Cheese. And a little fruit. But nothing too pretentious, so as not to offend the sensibilities of ET.
Talk about getting high… so, next up – crackers and a nice brie.
…Chocolate. Pairs nicely with a good merlot.
No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any f***ing Merlot!
A nice Shiraz?
…a sommelier.
Wine has been launched into space. Next up…
whiners.
I was gonna go with “winos.”
Wine has been launched into space. Next up…
well I’m not saying its aliens because, that is where they are in the first place.
Wine has been launched into space. Next up…
beer.
Elisabeth Warren in space might become an unintended consequence…
“Unintended”?
I think the word you’re looking for is “optimal”.
I’d poll the Aliens first…don’t want to anger them!
Chittlings, for homeopathic balance.
Wine has been launched into space. Next up…
whatever caused that explosive, projectile vomit to achieve orbit in the first place.
Wine has been launched into space. Next up…
breathalyzer tests.
The French.
… Champagne, to christen the Moon-bound nukes…
Alice Kramden and Foster Brooks
Evidence from the Kelner case, now it really will be missing
… Ryan Wash…
… flat-earthers…
Wine has been launched into space. Next up…
Corkscrews.
Send up a bottle of Mad Dog 2020, Night Train, or Bali High and there’ll be no need for corkscrews.
{shudder} I just detected a Ripple in the Force.
Well Ripple is pretty good as well.
Wine has been launched into space. Next up…
some Mad Dog, Boone’s Farm and Colt 45.
A notice of budget cuts and project cancellation. Seriously, if we’re so far down on the list of “things to experiment with in space” that we’re sending WINE up to study, it’s mission accomplished. Pull the plug and let’s spend the money on some interesting and worthwhile science.
If we’re sending wine into orbit we’re just wasting money. I’m all for science, but this is just silly.
…some fava beans along with a nice chianti….fftfftfftfftfftfftfft…
…whatever appears next on the list of demands from the aliens.
More Chuck Berry.
…the FBI’s original Michael Flynn interview 302s.
The Beatles:
♫ ♪
“She said baby, it’s unravelling, now the court’s after 302s
I said move over, Comey, unravelling in the news
I said “Move to postpone!”
“Move to dismiss!”
“Come on, maybe it’ll end like this:
Just unravelling, now the court’s after 302s.”
… Laika the Bordeaux Collie.
… Buzzed Aldrin.
… the dinner to go with it that we ordered, like, forty-five minutes ago.
… STEM glasses.
Hillary Clinton chasing the wine.
There was a method to their madness.
Trout Sniffer Stout
…a kilo of street-grade plutonium nyborg.