3E Vehicles and 4E Spaceships describe total life support, a life
support system that can provide food in addition to air and water. If
you look at the stats in Vehicles, this is 1,000 lbs. per person at TL8,
400 lbs. per person at TL9-10, 40 lbs. per person at TL11+. For TL10 and
below the system might be described as some sort of hydroponic farms.
I've been wondering if a closed-cycle hydroponics system that can feed
humans indefinitely can be kept on "hot standby" indefinitely, and if so
what that does to the menu. Are the humans an indispensable part of the
cycle?
- What happens if you have excess capacity in the hydroponics? The
plants are supposed to take the CO2 exhaled by humans and to be
fertilized by human waste. The fertilizer might be handled by green
manuring (plowing crops under rather than harvesting them), but what
about CO2?
- Could a total life system which combines grain and vegetables with
fish ponds, chickens, etc. cope by introducing non-human predators that
become part of the menu when more humans show up, or become more
numerous when there are fewer humans?
- What happens if there are no humans at all?
- How would you describe the procedure of "activating" or "deactivating"
a total life system, and how long does it take? Would it be possible to
harvest seeds from the last crop and store them?
Regards,
Onno
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