Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 84: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION tiny cabin for several months and the air would literally stink. In a spaceship these smells will have to be removed be- fore they make life unbearable. And carbon monoxide (found in the exhaust fumes from a car), chlorine and mercury vapour will build-up in the air, all of them being poisonous. Electric arcs and sparks create dangerous ni- trous oxides, whilst even the paint on the walls will con- tinuously give off small quan- tities of toxic materials. Over thirty poisonous vapours have been listed that may well reach dangerous limits in an entirely enclosed system. They must all be removed. Practically all of these im- purities are absorbed by active charcoal, the material used in gas masks. But in space there is the added advantage that the charcoal can be easily regenerated. If the dry air from the air conditioning unit is passed through a tube containing active charcoal cooled in space, then absorp- tion occurs. If the charcoal is heated and exposed to the vacuum of space, then the impurities are sucked out and lost. The charcoal can then be re-used. The carbon monoxide will require separate treatment, the simplest method being to pass the air through a hot catalyst such as finely divided platinum. The catalyst re- mains unchanged, but the carbon monoxide is oxidised by the oxygen to carbon di- oxide, which is removed by the normal methods. It can be seen that the air conditioning unit will be one of the most complex pieces of mechanism in an inter- planetary spaceship. It must be as near foolproof as pos- sible and be semi-automatic. Interlocking air analysers and controls must be able to handle any emergency with- out overloading any part of the equipment. In space you cannot run round the corner to the repair man; either you carry as few spares as possible, or you are able to make the parts yourself. Whatever happens, you only make a mistake once. comicloooks.corn