New Champagne Bottle to Let Tourists Raise a Toast in Space, to Be Tested on a Flight Soon
Mumm champagne teamed up with designer Octave de Gaulle to make the bottle
The Mumm champagne has designed a bottle that can be taken to space from where the fizz can be enjoyed. The champagne will be tried by journalists from several countries on Wednesday during a flight from the French city of Reims to the heart of the country. The Airbus Zero-G plane which is specially equipped will make a series of parabolic manoeuvres and climb steeply before a plunge for 20-seconds spurts of weightlessness. The champagne is promoted under the name Mumm Grand Cordon Stellar.
Mumm champagne teamed up with designer Octave de Gaulle to make the bottle. Their target audience is not astronauts as they are not allowed to drink alcohol on the International Space Station. The bottle is aimed to promote suborbital and orbital space tourism promoted by private operators like Virgin Galactic and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. NASA Will Send Submarine to Sea Floor in Hawaii to Know How to Study Water Worlds in Outer Space
Astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy, who heads the company that operates the Airbus Zero-G said, "They won't have to be performing any professional tasks on board, so they'll probably be able to drink a bit of alcohol. You could imagine drinking it with a straw,' said physicist Gerard Liger-Belair from the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, who consulted on the project."
The bottle is divided into two chambers in which the upper portion will hold the Champagne. A finger-controlled valve fitted below that used the Champagne's carbon dioxide will eject small amounts of wine in the form of a foam. There is a mechanism to control the foam si that the champagne comes out like droplets of bubbles. Using long-stemmed glass the wine can be scooped out. Mumm is hoping to partner with a public space agency or any private space tourism start-up to promote the product.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 12, 2018 10:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).