Brewing Sake in Space: The First Step Toward Building a Brewery on the Moon

The prospect of human settlement on the Moon is becoming increasingly realistic. From NASA's Artemis Program to China's Chang'e Program, and even ventures from Japanese startups, efforts are underway to enable sustainable human activities on the lunar surface. We don't know exactly when, but one day in the future, towns may form on the Moon, and people may live there.
If people are going to live on the Moon, wouldn't life be better with delicious sake? After all, not everyone heading to the Moon will be stoic explorers. Many will want to relax and smile over a good drink—just like people like us on Earth.
That's why we want to start preparing now to brew sake on the Moon. With this in mind, our brewery has received approval from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to conduct a brewing experiment in the Kibo module on the International Space Station (ISS). The goal is to ferment sake in space and bring 200 milliliters back to Earth. Half of that will be analyzed for scientific purposes, while the other half will be made available to supporters of this project.
All proceeds from the sale of DASSAI MOON will be donated to support future space development initiatives in Japan.
Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the Moon, famously said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Our brewery is now taking its own first step into the future. Nothing would make us happier than to have you take that step with us.

DASSAI Inc. President and CEO

Kazuhiro SAKURAI

DASSAI's Lab Linking Up with the ISS for a Sake Brewing Experiment

Soya UETSUKI, who is responsible for the project to ferment sake in space, majored in life sciences during his postgraduate studies. "My research focused on a specific disease, and my job was to understand the mechanisms behind it—why it develops—and to find the springboard for developing treatments," Uetsuki explains.
Although he once considered a career in research, Uetsuki had an even bigger ambition—to become the best in the world. "Becoming the top researcher in the world is no easy task," he admits. "But if I worked at the DASSAI brewery, which is known for producing the best sake in Japan, I thought I might be able to help create the best sake in the world. That's why I decided to join the brewery as a kurabito (brewery worker)."
Uetsuki was assigned to lead this groundbreaking project because of his strong background in understanding biological processes at a fundamental level. But after joining the project three years ago, he quickly encountered a range of daunting challenges. "The International Space Station, or ISS, is a completely confined space,"Uetsuki said, recalling the initial challenges he and his team faced. "If something goes wrong during an experiment, no one can go to help the astronauts. That means we have to prove to NASA, which has jurisdiction over the ISS, that our experiment is 100% safe. Sake brewing has a long history, but there's no data and knowledge about brewing in space. So we had to make a comprehensive list of all the byproducts generated during the fermentation process and submit data to show that each one of them met safety standards. Proving the safety of the experiment was our first major hurdle."
Once the safety issues were resolved, Uetsuki was tasked with developing the experimental equipment itself. "I am responsible for designing the experiment to be conducted inside the ISS, while the actual equipment is being developed in collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Mitsubishi has decades of experience in the space development business, so they bring invaluable expertise to the project."
Since the ISS is in a microgravity environment, the experiment will start by simulating lunar gravity—one-sixth of Earth’s gravity—using centrifugal force. "We’ll send ingredients such as pre-steamed and dried rice (Yamada Nishiki) and dried koji mold from Earth to the ISS. These ingredients will go into the equipment, and with the help of the astronauts, water will be added to see if fermentation occurs. Since we will be using the ISS’s valuable power and space, the equipment has to be as simple as possible. Even so, it will be equipped with monitoring devices that will allow us to track fermentation data from Earth."
If the sake ferments to 15% alcohol content, that will demonstrate the potential for brewing sake on the Moon. After the experiment, the fermented mixture will be frozen and brought back to Earth, splashing down in the ocean aboard a recovery capsule. "Our simulations suggest that fermentation should occur, but that’s just theoretical. Ultimately, we won’t know until we try. That’s why this experiment is so important."
Uetsuki joined the DASSAI brewery with a dream of making the best sake in the world. If this experiment succeeds, he will become the first sake brewer ever to make sake in space—a unique way of realizing his dream of becoming the best in the world.