Doritos teams up with SpaceX for new tokens

Doritos has teamed up with SpaceX to send a specially formulated version of its Cool Ranch chips into outer space. And while they don’t (currently) plan to sell them in stores, the company is giving customers a chance to grab them, and they’ll be contained in a glow-in-the-dark container.

The chips, PepsiCo’s holding company says, are designed so that the Cool Ranch flavor doesn’t float in zero gravity. The chips are mini, served in a container the same size as a Pringles can.

While clearly a promotional partnership, there are some beneficial parts to this product ad. Frito-Lay also partners with the Children’s Research Hospital St. Jude for this product, making a $500,000 donation to the health care facility and only giving fans who are curious what the space chips taste like a chance to get some if they also donate to St. Jude. Donations can be made at StJude.org/DoritosInSpace. Bigger donations will also earn rewards, from patches to tickets to MTV’s Video Music Awards.

So How do you make sure that the aromatic dust does not mix with the space dust? The company says that “instead of classic Doritos dust, an innovative oil-based coating preserves the disgusting flavor you know and love on the chips.”

SpaceX is targeting an Aug. 26 launch date for the mission, which is scheduled to last five days. This is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program, all commissioned and at least partially funded by payment services company Shift4 founder Jared Isaacman. The spacewalk is the highlight of this journey.

“Building a base on the moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of spacesuits; The development of this suit and the execution of the EVA will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits in future long-duration missions,” SpaceX said on the mission website.