Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc., a US brewing company known for its famous Budweiser beer, is going to send barley samples to the International Space Station on December 4, according to media reports.
Earlier in March, the corporation's representatives announced plans to become the first producer of beer on Mars amid the planned colonization of the planet in 2024.
Scientists are trying to determine which crops will survive on the surface of the Red Planet and withstand the long flight.
The samples will be in orbit for a month and undergo several tests, after which they will be sent back to Earth for further analysis.
Twitter users were quick to react to the news.
.@Budweiser wants to send and study barley, a key ingredient in beer, on the International Space Station. That's one giant leap for beer! 🙂 https://t.co/SximWN15My via @Engadget pic.twitter.com/reLG0GgoFH
— Mars One (@MarsOneProject) 24 ноября 2017 г.
To infinity and beyond? Budweiser to be First Beer on Mars by Sending Barley into Space This December https://t.co/7AlGNskETj pic.twitter.com/thlnGEBsfc
— talkingbeers (@talkingbeers) 24 ноября 2017 г.
Beer on Mars????? Great thought @budwieser #cheers.
— Kalpapran Patowary (@KalpapranP) 26 ноября 2017 г.
Why are they planning to brew beer on Mars? pic.twitter.com/AaA9WOzqVb
— IAmMtnchan (@Mtnchan1) 26 ноября 2017 г.
This is not the first alcohol experiment carried out in space. In 2011, the Scottish Ardbeg company supplied the ISS with the samples of malt used for the production of whiskey and particles of charred oak to study the effect of microgravity on them.
The experiment lasted almost three years and showed that the space-made whiskey is different in taste from the earth-made one.