Artificial Biospheres In Space

>
> > Hello Gang,
> > If our long term goals of establishing a permanent
human
> > presence in space are ever to be realized, we will have to
develop
> > "Artificial Biospheres" on the scale of Biosphere 2. After the
massive

>

> Hi Alex! Well, You don't need a full biosphere to keep humans
> alive in space.
> What you need to do is make sure the humans have what THEY need to
live.
>
> That means Oxygen, Nitrogen(to keep the Oxygen under control),
food,
> shelter, etc.
> Humans and any animals they bring with them exhale CO2(I can't do a
> subscript, sorry)
> and produce waste.
> The waste can be treated with the Zimmerman process. Heat the
> waste at 100 atmospheres with oxygen at 500 degrees for 1.5 hours
and
> out comes
> high quality water, ammonia, fine phosphate ash, and an effluent
gas
> rich in CO2
> but free of oxides of nitrogen,sulfur, and phosphorus and its all
> sterile! Cool huh?
> The CO2 can be broken up chemically to get the O2 out and/or
you can
> pump it into a
> closed farm. Generally, high heat breaks up most chemical bonds.
The
> only thing you
> need to keep track of is the atmospheric balance between the
various
> gasses.
> You also need to keep this sytem clean and functioning too or you
will
> die in orbit but
> that goes with any life support system.

The only problem with this system is that it doesn't produce food.
For short duration missions it works well, but not for colonies.

rodent (putting the eek in geek)