Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 82: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC near the Sun, be produced by a small solar mirror and turbine, or by the new photo- electric solar batteries. Other- wise a nuclear reactor would provide all the necessary power. The utilisation of oxygen in breathing gives water vapour and carbon dioxide as the by- products. Normally, the atmos- phere of Earth contains only 0.03% of carbon dioxide— 0.5% is lethal. The carbon dioxide and the water vapour must be removed. Chemicals can do the job, but they would take up an enormous amount of other- wise useful mass. The simple answer is a two-stage conden- sation, using the radiation of heat into space to cool part of the air. If a wide tube in space is so arranged that it is kept at just above 0° Centigrade, then most of the water vapour will condense out and can be distilled and re-used. This will amount to about four pints a day for each of the crew. If part of the dry air is then passed through a tube well below -—70° C., then most 81 SCIENCE FICTION of the carbon dioxide will condense out as a_ solid. Using several tubes, one operating whilst another is being cleaned, it will be pos- sible to keep the water vapour and carbon dioxide contents down to breathable limits. The temperature of the ship will be important, for the hotter it is the greater the amount of water lost by the body by perspiration and breathing. The problem any- where on the Sun side of the orbit of Mars will be cooling the ship—otherwise the tem- perature will not only be high enough to be uncom- fortable, but will result in the air-conditioning unit being overworked. In the absence of artificial gravity, the air in the cabins will be stagnant—it will not move unless continuously blown by a fan. A match will not continue to burn, as its products of combustion form a sphere of oxygenless gas and stifle the flame. The ducts from the air conditioning units must reach to every corner of the cabin, particularly over the bunks, comicloooks.cormn