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#11
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human overhead
Henry Spencer wrote:
foods. Anything you can get by growing plants is a useful supplement, but with reasonably-sized facilities you probably can't grow a large fraction of the necessary diet anyway. Have they really solved the problem of moss growing in Mir ? If they start growing plants in large enough quantities, can they really limit the growth to the designated areas ? Or will they have to spray the fungicide every day on all surfaces outside the "vegetable garden" ? While it is true that you couldn't expect to grow your food on such a ship, having a large enough "green" area might be a nice bonus. They may be able to have fresh vegetables now and then, and would have some "greenery" to remain human, and the garden might help with air recycling. (and provide something for them to take care of). Except for details of how well equipment works in free fall, essentially all the work for this can be done on the ground. There is no need to get the station involved. Isn't the detail of 0g the biggest factor in all of the ECLSS problems ? isn't radiation a huge detail in the reliability of electronics on board ? (especially commodity stuff like laptops ?) It occurred to me last week that most of the weight could be eliminated by flying a one-way mission. It just makes the ship bigger to have the added supplies to last longer. A lifetime supply of food and spare parts is almost certainly lighter than a fueled return vehicle. The idea is worth considering. The challenge will be developping good food that won't spoil for that time... Available off the shelf in any camping-supplies store. -- MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. | |
#12
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Richard Cochran wrote: Though I don't know for certain, my guess is that the best compromise is to maintain a relatively healthy, limber, agile body weight. Are you saying that you are a low-fat source of food? Look! Over there.... isn't that a Martian Ice Princess? Ker-whack! Pat |
#13
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"John Doe" wrote in message ... Henry Spencer wrote: foods. Anything you can get by growing plants is a useful supplement, but with reasonably-sized facilities you probably can't grow a large fraction of the necessary diet anyway. Have they really solved the problem of moss growing in Mir ? Yes, I can safely say there's no more moss growing in Mir. |
#14
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human overhead
In article ,
Herb Schaltegger lid wrote: ...When you leave LEO and easy access to shuttle-launched gas and water (metabolized from the fresh food, remember) closing the air and water ECLSS loops becomes much more important. The water loop, most definitely. The air loop, *possibly* not -- just dumping the CO2 and bringing along about 0.85kg/man-day of LOX (call it 1t/man for a three-year mission) is not ideal, but not unthinkable either. -- MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. | |
#15
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Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote: Yes, I can safely say there's no more moss growing in Mir. How about coral? Pat |
#16
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human overhead
In article , John Doe wrote:
Except for details of how well equipment works in free fall, essentially all the work for this can be done on the ground. There is no need to get the station involved. Isn't the detail of 0g the biggest factor in all of the ECLSS problems ? Not really. Getting the details of the processes right is the hard part. Engineering the result to work in free fall isn't trivial, but it's a lesser step; if worst comes to worst, you can apply a bit of centrifugal force for the hard parts (no need to worry about microgravity quality). isn't radiation a huge detail in the reliability of electronics on board ? (especially commodity stuff like laptops ?) Not really very much of one. The radiation issue is greatly exaggerated. Some concern is warranted for mission-critical or life-critical systems that absolutely have to be up all the time. Otherwise, for anything important you need ECC memory, and perhaps some willingness to tolerate crashes in solar-flare season, but that's about it. If the radiation environment is okay for years of human exposure, it's okay for the electronics too. -- MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. | |
#17
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"John Doe"
There is also a lack of experience in growing plants in space in sufficient quantities to be of use, but without causing major humidity/corrosion/mushrooms/moss problems to the rest of the station. This is probably a necessary technology for inter-stellar travel, but not a Mars trip. |
#18
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In article , Kent Betts wrote:
There is also a lack of experience in growing plants in space in sufficient quantities to be of use, but without causing major humidity/corrosion/mushrooms/moss problems to the rest of the station. This is probably a necessary technology for inter-stellar travel, but not a Mars trip. There are advantages to it, though; ISTR there being psychological benefits noted from the "life" experiments on spaceflights - or was that just the "cute ickle things that run around" ones? It gives the crew something relaxing to occupy themselves with, and isn't horrifically massy. Still doesn't help it with the whole "providing food" aspect, but there are arguably things to be said for it anyway. -- -Andrew Gray |
#19
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"Andrew Gray" wrote in message . .. In article , Kent Betts wrote: There is also a lack of experience in growing plants in space in sufficient quantities to be of use, but without causing major humidity/corrosion/mushrooms/moss problems to the rest of the station. This is probably a necessary technology for inter-stellar travel, but not a Mars trip. There are advantages to it, though; ISTR there being psychological benefits noted from the "life" experiments on spaceflights - or was that just the "cute ickle things that run around" ones? Mir crews reported that they derived great satisfaction from growing plants. |
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