World’s 1st space-brewed sake mash arrives in Japan
The fermenting mash used to brew sake in space as part of a world-first initiative by the maker of the popular Japanese brand Dassai arrived in Japan from Los Angeles on Friday.
Dassai Inc. plans to sell a single 100-milliliter bottle of the finished sake for 110 million yen ($700,000), with a buyer already secured. All proceeds will be donated to Japanese space development projects.
Speaking at a press conference at Kansai International Airport, where the “moromi” mash arrived on a Japan Airlines flight, Dassai chair Hiroshi Sakurai said alcohol had already been detected after two weeks of brewing.
“At first we did not know whether fermentation could occur in space, but now I feel somewhat relieved,” he said with a smile.
Unmanned spacecraft
In October last year, a dedicated brewing device and the raw ingredients of rice, koji mold, yeast and water were loaded onto the unmanned cargo spacecraft HTV-X and launched aboard a H3 rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Brewing tests were conducted in the “Kibo” experiment module of the International Space Station (ISS) in an environment simulating the Moon’s surface gravity. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, who was aboard the ISS at the time, was responsible for injecting water on the first day of brewing.
The resulting moromi was then frozen and recovered after splashing down in waters off California in the United States. It will be transported in a container to Dassai’s headquarters in Yamaguchi Prefecture while still frozen.
