‘How To Drink Coffee In Space?’ Astronaut Demonstrates (image-twitter/esa)
European Space Agency (ESA) this year decided to celebrate the International Coffee Day in their own ‘space way’. They have come up with a solution to an issue faced by astronauts during their space flight. Now the coffee lovers will not have to skip their favourite beverage during their space journey.
All simple tasks will become difficult once the astronaut reaches in low gravity zone. Astronauts will have to depend on straws and drinking bags in space as the liquid floats in the air.
On Sunday, Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti demonstrated how to use specialised designed cups in a video. These cups were designed by researchers at Portland State University. The cup’s design, which has a sharp beaker-like tip, optimises capillary action. The capillary action allows the liquid to flow swiftly in a narrow pathway with little opposition to external forces like gravity.
The video was posted on the official handle of ESA with the caption, “How do you like your coffee? Our astronaut @AstroSamantha demonstrates how she has her morning coffee in space!”
How do you like your coffee?☕️
Our astronaut @AstroSamantha demonstrates how she has her morning coffee in space! #InternationalCoffeeDay pic.twitter.com/UKA1Hy0EWW
— ESA (@esa) October 1, 2023
In the beginning of the video, Samantha pours coffee from a liquid bag into a normal glass container, from which she was unable to take a sip, as the liquid begins to flow. But with the specially designed cups, the mission becomes successful.
According to the NASA blog, the central objective of the space cup is to deliver “the liquid passively to the lip of the cup.” Researchers exploited surface tension, wetting conditions, and “the special geometry of the cup itself” to come up with this unique design. The cup was intentionally kept transparent to “observe all of the fluid physics going on in the process.”
The comment boxes were filled with interesting remarks “It’s the little things that bring home the reality of a space-faring civilization,” one said. While another person wrote, “If I’m not mistaken, she was the first person to drink coffee in space with the ISSpresso.” The video has garnered over 2k likes and 289.1 views.
