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Life support systems are currently at TL 10. Full life systems are by far the most common systems found on starships. Total life systems can provide food, but it is very unpalatable and is seen as only something one would eat if they could not beg, borrow, or steal something better. The food is in the form of SCOP (Single Cell Organic Protein) which will provide enough nourishment to sustain life in most sentient beings. If you are curious about this, consider one rather disgusting thought: A person could live on nothing but cow manure for food for months at a time, but I don't know of anyone who is rushing out to the local dairy farm to gather up that kind of lunch either. NOTE: Hivers actually like SCOP. Ships carrying passengers MUST provide real food or they will not have anyone booking passage aboard their vessel. These systems have a self-regenerative oxygen and water purification system that will work indefinitely, as long as you can maintain your seals. Decompressions, fires, and other hazards can eat up this atmosphere pretty fast and these systems cannot regenerate that which has been lost. A vessel can restore O2 by electrolyzing water, but humans need a lot more in their atmosphere than just O2. Just ask anyone who goes scuba diving. Potable water: Purification and recycling of water is an old technology that is pretty true and tested. Most systems use a combination of filtering materials to remove most solid waste and impurities from the water supply. Then a combination of UV and other low level radiations are used to kill bacteria. The solid waste is dehydrated to extract as much water as possible. The dry powder left over is often stored and sold as fertilizer at the starport. On really large ships and orbital facilities with botanical domes, the fertilizer is automatically added to the automated watering system of the plants as well as used to revitalize the soils unless hydroponics are being utilized. Breathable air: Electrolysis of water will of course provide a supply of Oxygen and Hydrogen as long as water is available. This is the problem with extended voyages through space. Because starships are not truly "air-tight" as most people tend to think, there is a constant loss of air from a ship. Granted, it is not of a scale to cause little vortexes all over the ship, but it is quite measurable. When a ships hull gets damaged, the amount of air loss increases, but even the regular riggers of acceleration and deceleration will cause stress fractures. Combat flying really wreaks hell with seals. Chemical scrubbers are also used to remove excess carbon dioxide from the air. SCOP tanks also provide a large percentage of the breathable air aboard ships with a full life support system. NOTE: I have found a real treasure trove of information on current life support technology and what is being developed at the Artemis Project. Please check out this great resource of information! |
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