What are espresso drinks on the ISS from?

I think many people like these small, comfortable espresso cups. It is very convenient to get your portion of caffeine from them, and the “procedure” itself is a lot of pleasure. But you can’t drink coffee drinks, including espresso, everywhere: for example, on the ISS until recently, astronauts were deprived of this pleasure. Not so long ago, a special coffee machine was sent to the station, which allowed the astronauts to enjoy their coffee at any time of the day.

Nevertheless, certain difficulties arose here: after all, on the ISS, liquid products are usually delivered in special plastic tubes, from which astronauts simply suck out the contents. But you won’t do this with hot espresso - what is the joy of sucking hot liquid from a tube without feeling the aroma of coffee? And you won’t drink from an ordinary cup, here are your limitations. In general, it was necessary for the ISS to develop special dishes from which one could drink espresso. At the same time, a whole team of mathematicians and physicists was involved in the development of dishes, which calculated in detail the parameters of space cups for espresso.

The appearance of such cups turned out to be rather strange, but here they are already used to the unusual appearance of ordinary things.



Each corner, the bend of the cups is calculated, there is not a single extra detail. The front of the “cup” is shaped so that the astronaut can drink coffee in the usual way, drinking a drink in small portions, without the risk of getting burned.

It is worth noting that the creation of such a cup required special knowledge on the behavior of liquids in micro-gravity. Previously, the specialists who created the space cup for espresso also created a space toilet where there are no moving parts, as well as a fuel supply system where the fuel flows by itself.

The development of the cup began back in 2008, then the project was suspended (there was no need for its implementation) and now the project was completed at an accelerated pace - because if you have a coffee machine sent by Italians, you need to drink coffee from something, right? Of course, it would be possible to adapt a regular tube, pour coffee in there, and wait until it cools down - but then the astronaut will be deprived of the pleasure of inhaling the aroma of coffee and enjoying the foam.

In general, the life of astronauts is becoming more and more like the life of an ordinary person, although, of course, this is hard work, and not rest in zero gravity.