June 16, 2014

Espresso Machine for the International Space Station

What's next ? We've seen it all. Espresso makers for camping, in the car, on the boat, in the airplane, but in space ? I could imagine that Richard Branson has a stake in this one, Espresso beverages soon to be found on a Virgin Galactic flight near you:

Creating a zero-g espresso machine isn’t something the folks at Lavazza had much experience (or any, for that matter) creating, so they went looking for a partner. Fortunately, they didn’t have to go far. The company is headquartered in Turin, Italy, conveniently close to another Italian firm called Argotech — who happen to have loads of experience when it comes to space flight and operations.

Read the entire story at:

http://www.geek.com/science/isspresso-is-a-keurig-for-the-international-space-station-1596825/

http://www.cnet.com/news/the-isspresso-an-espresso-machine-for-space/

Update:

A visionary dream becomes a reality

On May 3^rd Samantha Cristoforetti became not just the first Italian woman to go to space, but also the first astronaut in history to drink an authentic Italian espresso in orbit.

In fact, thanks to the revolutionary ISSpresso machine, Samantha and the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) enjoyed an authentic Lavazza espresso, using the same Lavazza coffee capsules available on Earth.

ISSpresso is the first capsule-based espresso machine capable of functioning in the extreme conditions of space. Its name comes from the International Space Station (ISS) where it is now installed.

ISSpresso is the result of a project run by Lavazza in collaboration with Argotec, an Italian engineering company specialized in the design of aerospace systems and European leader in the preparation of healthy and nutritious foods for in-space consumption.

Additional photographs and information about the cooperation between Lavazza, Argotecand the Italian Space Agency can be found: http://www.lavazza-canada.ca/ca-en/coffee-expertise/isspresso/