Thinking ahead of time helps the Japanese to maintain their cutting edge tech superiority in all things electronic. But with this project of brewing beer in space, they have gathered my full support in all things Japanese from now onwards. Japanese brewery Sapporo Holdings said it would make beer using the third generation of barley grains that had spent five months on the International Space Station in 2006.

The Japanese are planning for a scenario in the future where humans may stay in space for a long time and would like to indulge in the occassional beer. The company teamed up on the project with Okayama University biologist Manabu Sugimoto, who has been part of a Russian space project to explore ways to grow edible plants in space. Barley can grow in relatively tough environments, such as high and low temperatures, and is rich in fibre and nutrients, making it ideal for space agriculture, the associate professor said.

Only about a 100 bottles of beer can be brewed with the available amount of space grain at present but there are no plans for commercially launching the same.

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