NASA Is Working To Make Your Craft Brews Better

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NASA has found a way for small breweries to carbonate their beers the same way larger brewers do.

Tiffany Do•Updated: March 22, 2016 2:55 pm EST

The next time you enjoy a nice, carbonated craft beer, you may have NASA scientists to thank for providing those satisfying little bubbles.

Robert Zubrin, an aerospace expert who had a hand in creating technology that helped in the excursion to Mars, has figured out a way to use some of that same technology to help small brewers, according to Alabama.com.

The CO2 Craft Brewery Recovery System is a mobile cart that "captures" the carbon dioxide that's produced during the fermenting of beer and uses that CO2 to carbonate beer. Alabama.com reports that larger breweries have already had access to this technology, whereas smaller brewers were carbonating their beers with stuff they'd "truck in" at additional cost.

Zubrin told Alabama.com that the system "produces about five tons of carbon dioxide per month," which can supply a brewery that produces up to 60,000 barrels of beer a year. Breweries must create less than 15,000 barrels a year in order to be considered a microbrewery.