Argotec’s David Avino describes the machine as “a food laboratory” that might eventually also produce gourmet soups in micro-gravity.
Making coffee in space is difficult, as coffee from an Earth-based machine would form droplets and float away rather than drip into the cup.
The ISSpresso takes water from a pouch and pumps it round the machine through a capsule of coffee and into another pouch which the astronauts can drink from using a straw.
Argotec have been working on the design since 2012, according to The Guardian, after Italian astronaut, Luca Parmitano, complained that he missed his coffee on the Space Station.
Originally published by Cosmos as Space Station gets its first espresso machine – the ISSpresso
Bill Condie
Bill Condie is a science journalist based in Adelaide, Australia.
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