Deck 39
Environmental Systems
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Deck 39 |
Life Support and Environmental Control The hardware and consumables required for maintaining a habitable environment are distributed about key areas aboard Space Station Ian Fleming and service all accessible volumes. All humanoid life-forms need water, foodstuffs, and breathing gas for basic survival; within an artificial environment, one also needs the systems needed to supply and recycle them. The significant environmental factors to be stabilized for comfortable living are pressure, temperature, humidity, and radiation, and to a lesser degree, gravity. Other related factors include the detection and elimination of contaminants in the biological intake, exposure to EM fields, and medical intervention in adverse environmental conditions. Aboard Space Station Ian Fleming, the diverse nature of the resident population requires an equally diverse set of controllable environments, with common areas of the station accessible to a baseline standard for oxygen breathing races. Groupings of life-support subsystems, such as gas and liquid tanks and airflow venturis, are organized into primary, secondary, and reserve life-support facilities aboard the station. Most grouping are interconnected for maximum options in rerouting consumables in both benign and crisis conditions. Atmospheric chemistry subsystems and airflow handlers are located on decks 2, 4, 7, 12, 16, 25, 31, and 37. Fluid storage and mixing tanks, plus associated transfer pumps, are located on decks 2, 5, 9, 12, 16, 27, and 33. multinode sensors for the environmental system are located on all station levels and report to both local system controllers and the central computer cores for homeostasis command responses. Emergency situations that likely will overwhelm automatic responses will trigger crew actions with appropriate hardware, as in fire-fighting situations, hull breaches, and so on. Emergency supplies of stored breathing gases, foodstuffs, and protective garments are distributed about the station, independent of the consumables distribution network. Atmospheric System Like most class-M-compatible systems aboard starships and starbases, the atmospheric system aboard Space Station Ian Fleming maintains an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere at a prescribed pressure, temperature, and humidity. Electrostatic grids, EPS regulators and charge-stream airflow units apply a motive force to the air mass via an eight-stage magnetic coil assembly, and recycle the charge before the gases leave the unit. The overall exit pressure is regulated by a combination of physical constrictor valves and magnetic coil power level. The air handlers also control temperature and humidity via a series of EPS warmers and chillers, and water vaporizers and dehumidifiers. Supply gas analyzers check the safety of the air being transferred. Temperature and humidity levels are computer controlled by room, section, deck, or entire assembly, and most areas can be controlled by voice command. Specific areas requiring critical environmental control are configurable only by authorized crew members. Silenced inflow vents are present in all habitable spaces and are organized upstream into ducting from 8.3 centimeters across to as large as 1.2 meters across. Return ducting is similar in size and organization; in some cases, both directions are handled within a single divided duct. Most ducting is protected from outgassing migration from adjacent systems as well as resistant to medium-level radiation effects. Additions of stored gas can be made at computer controlled valve inputs along the ducting or incorporated into the airflow handlers. Return airflow enters the system via the return vent plates in most areas. Prior to be reintroduced into the supply ducting, the air within each loop is channeled through a carbon dioxide scrubber, return gas analyzer, suspended particulate filter, and organics removal grid. Waste gasses are separated by molecular type, condensed, liquefied, and either stored or vented overboard. In some cases, molecularly bound oxygen and nitrogen is uncoupled and returned to the general breathing gas supply. Gravity Generation The Graviton emitter block is the central device that maintains gravity on Space Station Ian Fleming. The Device is based on the emission of graviton particles that provides artificial gravity in normally zero-g environments. Artificial gravity is an essential life support system on the station, since it allows natural walking and working and enables an "upwards" and "downwards" orientation. Usually a network of gravity generators is employed, in order to provide a homogeneous gravity field. In case of an EPS failure, the gravity generators remain in service for up to 240min. Gravity mats are installed within all habitable and work spaces on Space Station Ian Fleming. Consumables Storage and Distribution Space Station Ian Fleming maintains a continuous matter flow of all forms, including breathing gases, potable fluids, fuels, ingestible solids, chemicals, and various raw and manufactured goods. Temporary storage areas are present in all three segments of the space station and are arranged according to the requirements for the specific areas. All consumables are processed through Security Inspection Stations at each docking port and cargo transporter pad prior to turbolift routing and cargo bay holding assignments. Once cleared for station use, consumables are loaded into the proper supply tanks, bins, and lockers for further distribution. Consumables destined for individual merchants do not join the general supply and are maintained by those merchants in leased holding areas. Waste Management Like most space Stations, the Ian Fleming benefits from stringent waste management and materials-recycling protocols. Waste water from all sources, including residential, commercial, and experimental spaces, is collected and processed. Normally, water-usage areas of similar type remain routed through separate loops for ease of recycling. All microscopic and macroscopic materials are filtered out and fractionated. Organic residues are biologically deactivated, reduced to CHON (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) compounds, and reintroduced into the raw storage tanks for replicator and scientific use. Solid wastes for recycling are mechanically reduced to fragments by combined sonic and EM field emitters. Materials are separated by specific gravity and are further reduced to melts or powders by thermal means, usually EPS or phaser. Most materials that can be reduced to CHON compounds are returned to replicator stock or longer term storage. Metals, particularly strong forced-matrix alloys, can be reduced to elemental form by EM matrix uncoupling, akin to replicator or transporter material manipulation, at an energy cost proportional to the bonding energy of the atomic structure. Alloy samples of like type can be fused and reentered in the Station's usable stores. All other simple matter conversions can be handled by the replicators. Hazardous waste materials of strategic reuse value may not be immediately rendered harmless, and may be stored in protected cargo bays. Those substances categorized as storables are contained, sealed, recorded, and separated into chemicals, biologicals, geologics, and metallics. Any materials from any source not able to be broken down by normal methods, whether mechanical, thermal, EM, or subspace, is placed under restricted access for study by Starfleet and Federation science facilities.