NASA cup

#1: Post by **DJR** » January 7th, 2021, 4:03 pm

Here's an official NASA espresso cup given to me by a friend of the inventor, Don Pettit. They're designed to retain the liquid by surface tension and can be used in space.

January 7th, 2021, 4:25 pm

Does it come with an 'Instruction Manual'; where does your nose go?

January 8th, 2021, 1:59 pm

No manual. Though I bet Nasa has some manual pages. I haven't tried it to be honest. My nose is large enough that I don't know if I can.

#4: Post by **rjacan** » January 8th, 2021, 3:20 pm

Video on Youtube about the cup here, see time 2:40 for the action shots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr3OPNjsx_M

#5: Post by **jpender** » January 8th, 2021, 3:26 pm

I was reading and watching videos about this recently. On Earth it seems like a fun thing to have but probably doesn't really work that well since we're not in low gravity. But I've also read that astronauts have been stealing them and taking them home so maybe they work better than I imagine. Or they just want a cool souvenir.

There's also a specially designed espresso machine for the Space Station: The ISSpresso.

#6: Post by **caeffe** » January 8th, 2021, 3:56 pm

DJR wrote:Here's an official NASA espresso cup given to me by a friend of the inventor, Don Pettit. They're designed to retain the liquid by surface tension and can be used in space.

image

Nice!
Did some google searching since I wanted to find out how to get one for me.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/s ... _coffeecup
https://www.rit.edu/vignellicenter/prod ... illary-cup - gives a good overview of how it came to be.

I probably would only display it rather than use since they are quite expensive ($499 for the official flight qualified version and $95 for the non-flight use porcelain version)
https://spaceware.co/
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-0 ... eware.html

You seem to have one that was probably made for those who actively participated in the Capillary Experiments. Your friend is a very gracious one indeed.

#7: Post by **Mat-O-Matic** » January 16th, 2021, 4:25 pm

This is so cool, and I loved the video showing fluids in space!
Does the cup remind anyone else of a neti pot, though?

January 18th, 2021, 11:29 pm

Super. Now I need another cup....

#9: Post by **Fluffeepuff** » January 19th, 2021, 3:09 pm

That is exceptional - thank you for sharing!