11.4 Consumables Storage and Distribution

As with other major space vessels and free-floating facilities, Deep Space 9 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 major station structures and are arranged according to the requirements for the specific areas. All consumables reaching the station from docked ships are processed through the Transited Cargo 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.

General-use breathing gases in the form of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, helium, and xenon are stored in 428 pressure tanks on all levels around the station and connected to the primary, secondary, and reserve life support systems. The tanks range in size from 1.2 by 3.6 meters to 3.1 by 6.8 meters, with operating pressures from 200 atmospheres to 306 atmospheres. Nonstandard gases are stored in an additional 173 static and portable 0.52 by 2.1 centimeter tanks. Fill, vent, and purge lines to the tanks are maintained as part of the general periodic maintenance (PM) on the environmental control systems. Some waste gases are liquefied and separated for research and industrial uses, or are vented into space.

Potable fluids, mainly distilled water as well as that produced from hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, are stored in eighty-seven polysteel tanks, each measuring 8.2 by 12.3 meters, with a capacity of 210.9 m³, for a total volume of 18,350.47 m³. Most of the fluid tanks reside on Levels 10, 13, and 16. As with the breathing gases, the water tanks are connected to the main nodes of the environmental control system. All additional fluids for food and medical use are stored in thirty-seven smaller spherical tanks 7.0 meters across, each with a capacity of 195.89 m³. All other specialized fluids in quantities below 195.89 m³ are stored in isolated tanks appropriate for each type and hazard level. Return flow and recycling storage is stored in eight to ten of the eighty-seven main tanks.

Primary food storage is handled by twenty-three large polysteel tanks connected to the replicator network. These tanks measure 7.6 by 13.2 meters and hold 183.86 m³ each, totalling 4,228.78 m³. The raw fiber and nutrient matrix is drawn off by electrohydraulic conduits and reduced in the replicator transmission processors prior to proportioning and reassembly at the user site. No return solids are stored in these tanks unless those solids are replicated foodstuffs re-entered for system uptake. Nutrient materials for nongeneral use are stored separately in eight warehousing sections on Levels 9, 11, 13, and 18.

Deuterium fuels for Deep Space 9 power plants are produced off-station and delivered by tanker and other vessels and are stored in dedicated tankage on Levels 30 and 32 (see 5.2). Antimatter for Starfleet spacecraft is also produced off-station and delivered by unannounced starships. Antimatter is typically loaded onto the station in standard magnetic containment pods, though magnetic suspension antideuterium transfers have been made directly into the storage system conduits. Most antimatter pods are installed immediately into their respective ships awaiting refueling.

Security measures in protecting the food supply and other materials have been of vital concern, given the history of hostilities in the quadrant. Hazardous materials, biogenic weapons, computer virus attacks, and other dangers are targets of multiredundant scans by Bajoran and Starfleet teams. Life-threatening incidents have occurred, and station personnel remain alert for all threat agent acts of sabotage.