INSPIRATION
KIWI STUDENTS TAKE FIRST
STEPS TO A SPACE BREWERY?
Last month, a rocket blasted off from
the Waikato countryside, firing up
through the clouds to an altitude
of 31,000 feet – carrying with it the
first biological experiments launched and
recovered from a rocket in New Zealand.
The rocket, Into the Blue, was designed and
built by a team of University of Canterbury
students from the UC Aerospace Club,
including Matthew Furkert, Jack Davies,
Robbie Grove and Thomas Bell.
One of the experiments was a collaboration
with Canterbury brewers Damien Treacher
and Mark Waller of the appropriately named
brewpub. Saccharomyces cerevisiae
(aka Brewer’s yeast) was flown as part of
the payload to determine the effects of
rocket flight on the microbial production of
valuable secondary metabolites during the
fermentation process.
“The initial launch was a great success, with
many lessons learned which will help us to
optimise biological payloads on subsequent
rocket launches.”
Boasting cutting-edge technology in
the form of an active air-braking system
and real-time data transmission, Into the
Blue will be entered in the Australasian
Universities Rocket Competition to be held
in Queensland, 17-21 April.
For the first time, held in the rocket’s
payload bay was a chassis (fabricated
by technical officer Ben McGinlay of
UC Biological Sciences) containing two
biological experiments featuring both
plant and microbial cultures. The aim of
this payload was to test the feasibility
of biological/biochemical experiments
on domestic rocket launches, says UC
biochemistry researcher Dr Sarah Kessans,
herself a NASA astronaut candidate finalist
interviewee.
The other experiment involved cell cultures
(in solid nutrient media) of Pinus radiata,
in collaboration with biotechnologist UC
Associate Professor David Leung of UC
Biological Sciences.
Depth, MF, UF and RO Filters QA, R&D Laboratory Filters Ultrapure Water Systems
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