International Space Station to have coffee machine soon

Mumbai: Lavazza, Italian coffee company, Argotec and Italian space agency ASI are working together to bring ISSpresso for the International Space Station. This coffee machine will help the astronauts to get a homely feel even in Space.

David Avino, aerospace engineers and Argotec, Managing Director have designed this  coffeemaker which can work even in microgravity conditions.  As per official reports, the functional project was already completed in June 2013. Argotec had been working on it for about one year.

At present, Argotec’s laboratories is testing a prototype of the space coffee machine. As per official reports , Finmeccanica – Selex ES will participate in the assessment activities aimed at launching ISSpresso into orbit with the Futura Mission crew, one of whom is the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. The ‘corner café’ on the ISS will be the hub for socialising on board the Station, a sort ofocial network in space, a venue for getting together, chatting and relaxing: an aspect that should not be ignored in missions that keep the astronauts away from home for many months in a very challenging environment.

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ISSpresso is a technological challenge that meets very stringent requirements, imposed by the Italian Space Agency, in terms of technical functionality and safety. In addition to the engineering aspect, Argotec is also taking care of the European astronauts’ training and nutrition.  “ As food provides an important psychological support and being able to enjoy a good Italian espresso may be just the right way to finish off the menu designed especially for each astronaut, helping him or her to feel closer to home,” highlighted the developers of Isspresso coffee machine. 

ISSpresso has been designed to respond to a scientific and engineering challenge as well. Official reports also stated that Lavazza coffee machine studies have enabled principles of physics and fluid dynamics to be tackled, such as the difficulty of handling liquids at high pressure and high temperature in a space environment.

The Lavazza ISSpresso’s official website also claims that coffee machine weighs about 20 kilograms since there are back-ups of all the critical components for safety reasons in accordance with the specifications agreed upon with the Italian Space Agency.