NASA has collaborative projects with industry to develop many of the items it needs to make a mission successful. These companies use this knowledge to create new or better commodities, in this case, a coffee mug that maintains the perfect temperature.
This great idea came up from one of the scientists working on a NASA-founded project to improve the design of space suits; which were unable to keep a constant and pleasant temperature for astronauts working for extended hours in space. Using computer simulations and testing of phase-change materials (PCM), Dr. Hongbin Ma and his team put the physics of thermodynamics to work to develop the best option: a bio-based beeswax-like soy material for the spacesuits. Other materials like paraffin wax and refrigerants are effective but toxic to humans, making them hazardous if there is a leak.
A thermal control system is also crucial for the spacecraft itself, the place where astronauts will spend long periods living or traveling in space. In this case, the spacecraft can maintain the right temperature for the cabin environment and machinery. For example, by including phase-change materials in the system, it’s possible to store excess heat and release it later, when the extremely cold temperatures of space can freeze the same technology.
The same materials are also critical for missions to the Moon. Scott Hansen, a thermal engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, tells us that if we didn’t include this kind of system in Orion, the crew would get too hot and then too cold. They would be quite uncomfortable.
So how did this come to be part of a coffee mug? The story goes that Dr. Hongbin Ma kept forgetting about his coffee and was tired of drinking its coffee cold, so his team used the same PCM research to build a mug with better thermal properties. A mug that can maintain the ideal temperature of a hot beverage for hours.
For more information, check out the spinoff NASA release at https://spinoff.nasa.gov/The-Science-of-the-Perfect-Cup-for-Coffee