Alcohol fermented on the International Space Station (ISS) has returned to Earth. Using koji, rice, and brewing equipment sent by a Japanese sake brewery, clear rice wine was brewed in space.
According to Yomiuri Shimbun and Kyodo News on the 7th, the Japanese brewery Dassai received the sake fermentation mash that fermented in the ISS's Japanese experiment module at Kansai International Airport the previous night. The mash returned to Earth on the 27th of last month in a frozen state and was transported from the United States to Japan by air.
Earlier, in Oct. last year, Dassai sent sake ingredients and brewing equipment to the ISS aboard the HTV-X No. 1 cargo resupply spacecraft launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Kyushu. After that, brewing work proceeded in the ISS experiment module with help from astronauts.
Dassai Chairman Sakurai Hiroshi told reporters, "Alcohol has already been detected," and "We were not sure whether fermentation would be possible in space, but we felt a bit relieved after confirming the results."
The company plans to deliver about 100 ml of finished clear rice wine to the final purchaser after additional steps such as filtering out sake lees from the mash. Dassai said the alcohol has already been reserved for sale at about 100 million yen (about 900 million won), and the proceeds will be donated to Japan's space development program.
Dassai pursued this project with the goal of ensuring that humanity can enjoy alcohol even if people eventually migrate to the moon. To that end, Dassai worked with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to develop a dedicated brewing device and carried out other preparations.