Next frontier for beer: Budweiser sends barley seeds to space station

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In Florida, Budweiser has sent barley seeds to the International Space Station via a Space X cargo mission—the first step in figuring out how to ensure Mars’ first inhabitants don’t have to forgo the King of Beers.

Anheuser-Busch, which makes the ubiquitous brew, says the project includes two microgravity beer experiments on the ISS. The first will analyze how the seeds react to zero gravity, while the second will test if they germinate. The seeds will orbit for a month, and then be analyzed once back on Earth.

“Not only will the research offer insights on steps to creating beer on the Red Planet, but it could also provide valuable information on the production of barley and the larger agricultural community here on Earth,” Anheuser-Busch said.

Future research will analyze how to grow hops on Mars and how to carbonate beer in an environment with far less atmospheric pressure than Earth. “That crisp sound you get from opening an ice-cold Budweiser wouldn’t happen,” the company added.