How-To: Homemade Astronaut Ice Cream

Food & Beverage Science
How-To: Homemade Astronaut Ice Cream
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Inspired by Chris Gammell’s post about “trickle down techonomy,” Ben Krasnow posted this how-to video on making your own Astronaut Ice Cream. He used a vacuum pump, dry ice, and various hoses and fittings to freeze dry ice cream that can be easily enjoyed any time you’re out in space or even on terra firma. [via CRAFT]

18 thoughts on “How-To: Homemade Astronaut Ice Cream

  1. Drew says:

    This is why I love America- there are still people around who were inspired
    by our science focus 50+ years ago, and figure out how to make something this complicated at home, because it can be done.

    This is how to get kids to like science! Teach them this is how they make ice cream for astronauts. Can you image a kids face when they taste this, and know they learned science to do it? They’d love learning and science for the rest of their lives. Science really is cool, and there’s no limit to the wonders you can create with it and critical thought. Awesome project!

  2. alex 78 says:

    Certainly a very innovative approach, however this ice cream does not look yummy at at … ;(

    1. Eric Chu says:

      I’m guessing you’ve never tried astronaut ice cream before. It tastes like ice cream (well, because it is) but the texture is totally different. Give it a try sometime!

  3. Rob0 says:

    That is fantastic! Great video showing the steps and reasoning.

  4. Lindsay says:

    My chemistry teacher in high school once freeze-dried some marshmallows. I don’t remember the process (it was awhile ago…*grin*), but I do remember it involved liquid nitrogen. I would love to see that again! They were crunchy and delicious!

    Oh, and now I want some freeze-dried ice cream…mmmm

  5. Ben Krasnow’s Homemade Electron Scanning Microscope and Liquid Lens Coming to Maker Faire | vis a vis | visual mind says:

    […] a lot of money and sophisticated equipment: an electron scanning microscope, silica aerogel, and freeze-dried astronaut ice cream (I’ve tasted it, and it’s spectacular). Ben also builds electromechanical hardware for Valve […]

  6. MAKE | Homemade Hybrid Rocket Engine says:

    […] with Ben Krasnow: How-To: Homemade Astronaut Ice Cream What Carbonated Acrylic Plastic Looks Like DIY liquid nitrogen generator Share this: Pin […]

  7. ○DIY/Tip▶ Homemade Hybrid Rocket Engine « dot dot dob tob tob says:

    […] with Ben Krasnow:How-To: Homemade Astronaut Ice CreamWhat Carbonated Acrylic Plastic Looks LikeDIY liquid nitrogen […]

  8. Weekly Roundup of Science and Cooking: 13-19 February 2012 says:

    […] Richardson shows us how to make astronaut ice cream. Inspirational, but keep in mind obstacles like “eight hours later…” and […]

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Matt Richardson is a San Francisco-based creative technologist and Contributing Editor at MAKE. He’s the co-author of Getting Started with Raspberry Pi and the author of Getting Started with BeagleBone.

View more articles by Matt Richardson

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