(TheDrinksBusiness) - An 11-year-old schoolboy in the US has won a NASA competition to design an experiment to be conducted in space – on how microgravity affects brewing beer.

Michal Bodzianowski (pictured), a student at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) School and Academy in Douglas County, Colorado, came up with the idea when he thought of how future intergalactic colonists might produce drinking water and provide basic antiseptics in the event of an accident which deprived them of these facilities.

Entitled, “What Are the Effects of Creation of Beer in Microgravity and Is It Possible?” Bodzianowski’s project was selected by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and will be on its way into orbit this December.

The competition is part of the Student Space Flight Experiments Programme which was launched in 2010 and has so far seen 17,500 students take part in what is known as “real-life science”.

The competition is designed to inspire an interest in STEM careers.

Bodzianowski told US media he got the idea after reading a history book called “Gruesome Facts”, which explained the importance of beer in the Middle Ages.

“It was a punishment for crimes, that you couldn’t drink beer,” he said, “and most people didn’t survive (that) because the water was contaminated.”

He reasoned therefore that beer is, “an important factor in future civilization as an emergency backup hydration and medical source.The fermentation process could be used to make beer, which can then be used as a disinfectant and a clean drinking source.”