Australian products headed to space – from space beer to in space repair

Space services provider Saber Astronautics has announced the first set of Australian projects selected for development on board the International Space Station (ISS).

Selected with a focus on their manufacturing potential, the projects range from the seemingly frivolous zero-G beer bottle from 4-Pines Brewing, to in space repair utilising Titomic’s cold spray fusion additive manufacturing process.

The projects are the first fruits of Saber’s Australian Astronaut Program which aims to bring Australian industry and researchers into the spaceflight community and benefit from the trillion dollar station.

The joint venture between the 4-Pines Brewing company and Saber Astronautics aims to bring the first beer that can be used in space – so called ’Vostok Space Beer for Astronauts’.

Meanwhile Titomic aims to develop and show the feasibility of a self-contained, miniaturised cold spray device to produce on-orbit solid state metal repairs using Supersonic Particle Deposition (Cold Spray).

Saber CEO Dr. Jason Held said: “We are impressed by the innovation and creativity in the proposals and are excited to see the potential they can have on the future of space exploration and on Earth.

“There are more projects signing up and we want to give the best opportunity for industry to make the most of this exciting opportunity.”

Other projects to fly into space include:

• The ARC Centre of Excellence for Plants for Space (P4S) and University of Adelaide is developing sustainable, productive space crops
• And a project to study the impacts of the space environment on frozen mice embryos, eggs and sperm by IVF Australia, Virtus Health, 23strands, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Technology Sydney.

Project teams will participate in a series of workshops starting in February at Wolfpack Space Hub, in order to get ‘flight ready’ for Axiom’s flights to the ISS in 2024 and 2025.

The ISS offers unparalleled advanced manufacturing and research opportunities. Project teams will also create advancements in areas such as human reproduction, plant growth and materials science.

Further reading:
SABER OPENS SPACE STATION OPPORTUNITY FOR AUSSIE ASTRONAUTS AND INDUSTRY

Picture: 4-Pines Brewing – beer headed for space?