Whisky will be distilled in space for the first time as part of an experiment which will also measure how the spirit ages in the harsh environment beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.
Engineers in Scotland and Japan are planning to put Scotch on a rocket in 2028, sending a satellite containing samples of whisky and its base ingredients on a five-year mission to orbit the Earth. It is hoped the frequent changes between extreme heat and freezing cold experienced by the whisky as it rotates the planet every 90 minutes could speed up the maturation process.
Space Puffin mission
This could potentially open the door to future production of space-aged whisky, which the scientist behind the project expects to have “very bold” flavours as a result of its unusual journey. While such whisky would command astronomical prices due to the cost of launching and recovering the liquid, collectors are already known to pay hundreds of thousands for some of the rarest bottles.
Dr Gilles Bailet, of the University of Glasgow, said a number of students have travelled from Scotland to Japan to help to co-design the “cubesat” which will contain the tiny whisky samples and ingredients. The current plan for the whisky experiment – nicknamed “Space Puffin” – is to launch the cubesat in 2028 on a SpaceX supply mission to the International Space Station, before deploying it into orbit from the Japanese module of the space station.
Aging process in orbit
The science around the process of whisky “breathing” as it ages in wooden casks is not well understood, Dr Bailet said, but the cycles could happen much faster in space – where temperatures can quickly vary between minus 150 degrees to 200 degrees. Dr Bailet told the Press Association: “We want to see what the effect of a space environment is on the aging of the whisky.”
He added: “We’ve got the best people here in Scotland to be able to inform that, with centuries of experience, so we can bring this whisky experience into space.” The whisky on the cubesat will be monitored while it is in space, feeding data on its colour and chemical composition back to scientists on the ground.
Potential for orbital factories
On Earth, whisky is produced by mixing barley with water and yeast. Yeast breaks down the sugars in the barley, creating ethanol as a byproduct. The team’s system will demonstrate how ethanol, which plays a role in the production of many drugs, can be extracted in orbit.
While the cubesat will not be recovered at the end of its five-year mission, Dr Bailet said he is keen to scale up whisky maturation in space and develop a system for launching Scotch into space and landing it on Earth after maturation. He said: “We are really keen to be able to actually fly a full whisky-making system, with a full cask, if we’re able to collaborate with investors or other people interested about it.”
“But it’s totally in the realm of possible to bring back something like a litre of whisky within the next three to five years.” He hopes this process would produce “really bold whiskies” with “extremely complex flavour profiles”.
While whisky has previously been into space as part of an experiment to understand flavour, it did not leave the temperature-controlled confines of the International Space Station. The cubesat will not have a full whisky cask on board; however, the liquid samples will be contained by small wood chips to mimic the cask aging process on Earth. Different distilleries in Scotland and Japan are expected to contribute the whisky, though these have not been chosen yet.
Dr Bailet said: “Previous research has suggested that the microgravity of space may allow us to grow larger, purer chemical crystals and to fold proteins in new ways.” “Big questions still remain over how we might actually do chemistry in space, however, and this project aims to provide some answers.” “Whisky gives us a very recognisable, very well-understood model for studying and monitoring biological and chemical processes in microgravity.”
The initial visit to Japan is the result of a grant from distillery-design consultancy Allen Associates. Geoff Nisbet, lead process design engineer at the consultancy, said: “We often say that our fingerprints are found all over Scotland’s distilleries — we never expected the next set might end up in space.” “We’re delighted to support a project which brings together Scotland’s world-renowned whisky industry, engineering innovation and the next generation of engineers.” “There is also something quite fitting about Scotland and Japan being brought together through whisky once again, this time with a project looking far beyond the distillery itself.”
