'ISSpresso' machine headed to the International Space Station will use water from the recycled urine space station astronauts call "yesterday's coffee."
If all goes well, the first-ever coffee making machine will be flown into space on April 13 as Vid SpaceX conducts a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The A Register, a United Kingdom online source, reported on April 10 that the 4:33 p.m. EDT launch of the CRS-6 mission will carry 4,387 pounds of cargo up to the ISS, including the first espresso machine designed for use in orbit. The specially built coffee maker was the brainchild of Italian astronauts Paolo Nespoli and Luca Parmitano, who noticed a lack of espresso on their visit to the ISS. The “ISSpresso” machine was developed by manufacturers Lavazza and Argotec, and will use water from the recycled urine space station astronauts call “yesterday’s coffee.”
Besides the espresso machine, the payload will also include Arkyd 3 – a prototype surveillance satellite from meteorite-mining firm Planetary Resources – and 28 Flock micro-satellites from Planet Labs that will be fired around the Earth by the ISS launch system.
Arkyd 3 is a test version of the satellites Planetary Resources wants in space to spot mineral-rich asteroids. The space telescopes will be expected to find rocks close enough for humankind to explore for minerals. The firm hopes to have automated mining equipment on its first chunk of space rock by 2022, a timeline that looks optimistic at best, according to the A Register.
For SpaceX, it’s going to be an extremely tight launch window – just a few seconds available – due to the plane and position of the ISS. At time of publication, NASA has given the chances of the launch going ahead at 60 percent, given the weather forecast.
The cargo capsule should arrive at the orbiting science lab two days after launch, and three days after that it will be loaded up for the return trip and sent off for a splashdown off the California coast.