When they are not disrupting the activities of the house, throwing random stuff at each other and making a menace inside the parliament during a session, Indian MPs do spend time addressing the grave issues and challenges faced by the modern India.
No, the above paragraph is not a figment of my imagination.
Don’t believe me? Please, read on.
During the second leg of the parliament budget session, Sisir Kumar Adhikari, an All India Trinamool Congress MP asked a question of the utmost significance in the parliament.
Mr Adhikari, an MP from the Kanthi constituency, West Bengal, asked the ‘Minister of Space’ ( FYI, PM Modi heads the department of space) if an Indian spacecraft is planning to brew beer on the moon.Â
Responding to the weird (?) query, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of state for the ‘Department of Space’, made it clear that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has no plans of making a ‘lunar beer’.
“There is no plan to brew beer on the moon by any spacecraft to be made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).”
But, I guess I know the reason Mr Adhikari got a li’i confused.
The MP must’ve heard media reports about Team Indus, an Indian team participating in the ‘Google Lunar X Prize mission’. The competition has invited teams to design and land a robot on the moon.
The team has secured a launch contract with the ISRO. (Kudos! and good luck to them from our side)
In addition to that, the MP asked two other questions. Here are the questions and their answers by Dr Singh.
QUESTIONS-
(a) Whether an Indian Spacecraft is planning to brew beer on the moon;
(b) if so, the details of research plan and viability of yeast test therefor; and
(c) the universal rules on moon lander therein?
ANSWERS-
(a) No Madam. There is no plan to brew beer on the moon by any spacecraft to be made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
However, Team Indus, a privately funded team under the Axiom Research Labs Pvt. Ltd., is competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition towards building a spacecraft capable of soft landing and roving on the Moon. The spacecraft is proposed to be launched onboard ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) under a commercial launch agreement. As understood from media reports that, Team Indus is proposing an experiment to brew beer on the Moon using yeast.
(b) As understood, the aim of this experiment is to test and observe the survivability of yeast in space and how it performs under Moon’s gravity conditions. The experiment plans to brew a small batch of beer in space.
(c) The activities in Outer Space including moon and other celestial bodies are governed by UN treaties on Outer space activities namely – (i) Outer Space Treaty, 1967, (ii) Moon Agreement 1979. Further, the protection of planetary environment is governed by COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy 2002.
These treaties and policies govern the scientific exploratory activities in outer space, moon and other celestial bodies using human made spacecraft, landers, rovers etc., without causing harmful contaminations to the environment in outer space, moon and other celestial bodies and to Earth as well by bringing extra-terrestrial materials. Such activities need to be authorized by the State concerned.
Yup, that’s a hell lot of productive work going on there.
On another note, I like the idea of the ‘Lunar beer’ though. Maybe I should get a copyright on that name. 😉
You can read the original transcription of the questions and answers here.