12.1 Life Support and Environmental Control

Of all major ship's systems, life support and environmental control are among the most critical. Every key system element is designed with multiple redundancy to provide for maximum crew safety, even in the unlikely event of multiple system failure. Under normal operating conditions, the mean time between failure for the environmental systems should exceed five hundred operating years. Even under such a total failure, emergency backups should insure crew survival in most situations.

Major life support equipment facilities are located in the Primary Hull on Decks 6, 9, and 13. In the Engineering Hull, major life support equipment is located on Decks 11, 21, 24, and 34. The primary life support systems comprise two parallel systems, each serving as a backup to the other. Synthetic gravity generators are located throughout the habitable volume of the spacecraft.

Each major life support facility includes a tie-in to the reserve utilities distribution networks. These tie-ins include a limited supply of critical consumables, including breathable air, power supply, and water. The reserve utilities distribution network is designed to provide minimal life support and power in the event of complete disruption of both primary environmental support systems.

Other emergency provisions include distributed reserve life support systems, emergency support shelter areas, and contingency support modules intended to provide shipwide breathable atmosphere for up to thirty minutes in a major systemwide failure.