Ever wondered what it might look like inside the CAPiTA Mothership that lays deep in the Austro-Italian Alps? Kevin Backstrom, Brandon Cocard, Markus Olimstad and Phil Jacque got to explore both the inside and the outside of the Moonshot Facility, which by the looks of it is quite nicely located if you’d fancy some snowboarding for your lunch break.

The mothership is located next to the Austrian town Feistritz, and most of the people living there are employed by CAPiTA, making it all nice and cozy. But despite the ideal location, what makes CAPiTA’s way of manufacturing snowboards so special? Juggling between what is good for the environment and snowboards manufacturing is not easy – but CAPiTA is doing a great job here.

“Juggling between what is good for the environment and snowboards manufacturing is not easy – but CAPiTA is doing a great job here”

They are the only snowboard factory in the world that is 100% hydro-powered. Basically what this means is that the system creates five units of energy for both cooling and heating the units consumed, of which the NH3 natural gas system warms up and cools down the entire vessel. It generates both the heat required for board pressing and for printing the topsheet on the snowboard, but also cooling to reduce the snowboard press temperature. The location of the Mothership also allows them to use up to 98% raw materials in their manufacturing process.