DOE Environmantal Assessment Vol2 Detailed

There may be other problems of weightlessness that have not yet surfaced. 2*6.3.2 Life Support Life support for long stays in space presents some problems which need careful evaluation. The correct nutrients in a palatable form will have to be supplied to space workers, probably much of it dehydrated to lessen bulk for shuttle purposes. A possibility exists that some food could be grown on board, using recycled waste products. The amount that will have to be stored, its form, and the need for growing part of it will depend on the frequency of replenishment by shuttle flights and the amount of storage space engineered into space vehicles. Recycling of water and air will have to be done as efficiently as possible. Systems for this need will have to go into the engineering development of space vehicles and stations. Contaminants in the space vehicle environment from on-board outgassing of construction materials, waste products, coolants, etc., will have to be minimized and systems for air decontamination built in to remove, as far as possible, those unavoidably present. Various materials used in construction and operation of space vehicles need to be considered with the view of minimizing toxic materials in the atmosphere. Toxicology should also be considered in planning the disposal and recycling of waste products. Medical and dental on-board support systems and emergency medical facilities will need to be built into the space vehicles to include: surgery, diagnostic equipment (X-ray machine, electrocardiogram equipment, etc.), a clinical laboratory for diagnostic procedures, and emergency dental work. Examples of the emergencies that should be prepared for in case the person cannot be returned to earth quickly are foreign bodies in eyes, fractured bones, ruptured peptic ulcers, heart problems, trapped air under a tooth filling, and kidney calculi. Facilities for treatment of decompression problems (bends) should be built into space vehicles. The amount of EVA to be expected is unknown at present. However, in the process of construction work, it is possible that a

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==