Now future space tourists can get additional inspiration from viewing the orbital landscapes with a bottle of fine champagne. All this became possible after a group of designers developed a high-tech reservoir for this drink, which maintains special conditions for drinking it in zero gravity.
It all happened after champagne maker Mumm invited designer Octave de Gaullem to join its ranks, who specialized in creating unique items, including bottles for space flights. Journalists from several countries will taste the champagne on Wednesday during the flight of a special plane taking off from the French city of Reims – the capital of sparkling drinks. The specially equipped Airbus Zero-G will perform a series of parabolic maneuvers, and will spin sharply down before diving in order to create a 20-second pause in zero gravity.
At the same time, the target audience will not be astronauts at all, who are prohibited from drinking alcohol in space. The upcoming wave of sub-barbital and orbital space tourism, promoted by private operators such as Virgin Galactic's Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, could be a godsend for ordinary space connoisseurs.
“They don't need to do any professional assignments on board, so they can probably drink some alcohol,” said astronaut Jean-François Clarvoy, who heads the company that operates Airbus Zero-G.
French designer Octave de Gaulle with a bottle of Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar for future space tourists
“Could you consider drinking it like cotton candy?” Asked physicist Gerard Liger-Belair, who consulted on the project, an avid teetotaler.
In search of a more elegant solution, about three years ago, the Mumm team turned to De Gaulle, the great-grandfather of the French military leader Charles de Gaulle. He came up with a bottle that was split in two. The Champagne is at the top and the bottom is a controlled 'finger' valve that uses the champagne's own carbon dioxide to extract a small amount of the drink that comes out of the bottle as foam.
The main trick was to stop pouring the wine through the bottle. To do this, De Gaulle created an aluminum strip that forms a ring above the top of the bottle and encloses the bubble sphere.
“You rotate the bottle and the foam ball is released,” the designer said in his Paris studio. 'The moment the foam turns to liquid in the mouth is a sensation that cannot be experienced on Earth. This is truly magic, because champagne makes a 'landing' not only on your tongue, but also on the entire internal cavity of the mouth – the gastronomic sensations are increased significantly. '
At the moment, Mumm is looking for a partner: a private company or an official space agency in order to turn their idea into reality. De Gaulle, meanwhile, plans to patent his prototype, and who knows, perhaps one day the astronauts will be able to relax with a bottle of such a drink and wish earthlings a Happy New Year during one of the missions.
