Govt clears the air on brewing extra-terrestrial beer

QUERY BY TMC MP

BARELY A year after the home ministry received an RTI query on India’s preparation for an alien attack, TMC Member of Parliament and former Union minister Sisir Kumar Adhikari asked the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday if the government was planning to brew beer on the moon.

“Will the Prime Minister be pleased to state: (a) whether an Indian spacecraft is planning to brew beer on the moon; (b) if so, the details of research plan and viability of yeast test therefor; and (c) the universal rules on moon lander therein?” Adhikari asked.

While stating that the government is not planning to brew an extra-terrestrial beverage, in the reply to the question, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said that a privately funded team is participating in a competition to build a spacecraft for soft landing on moon, and is also reportedly planning an experiment to brew beer using yeast.

“There is no plan to brew beer on the moon by any spacecraft to be made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). However, Team Indus, a privately funded team under the Axiom Research Labs Pvt. Ltd., is competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition towards building a spacecraft capable of soft landing and roving on the Moon. The spacecraft is proposed to be launched onboard ISRO’S Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) under a commercial launch agreement. As understood from media reports that, Team Indus is proposing an experiment to brew beer on the Moon using yeast,” Singh said in his response.

He added that the aim of the said experiment was to test and observe the survivability of yeast in space and how it performs under Moon’s gravity conditions. According to a Space.com report in January 25, teams have been selected to compete for a spot aboard a moon lander, which is scheduled for launch on December 28 this year. Of these 25 teams, the report said, one is planning to conduct the experiment for manufacturing beer on the moon. The spacecraft is owned by Team Indus.

Singh also informed in his Lok Sabha reply that the activities in outer space, including moon and other celestial bodies, are governed by United Nations treaties on outer space activities — Outer Space Treaty, 1967, and Moon Agreement 1979.

“Further, the protection of planetary environment is governed by COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) Planetary Protection Policy 2002. These treaties and policies govern the scientific exploratory activities in outer space, moon and other celestial bodies using human made spacecraft, landers, rovers etc., without causing harmful contamination to the environment in outer space, moon and other celestial bodies and to Earth as well by bringing extra-terrestrial materials. Such activities need to be authorised by the State concerned,” the minister said.