Deep Field

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Deep Field
29 September 2026 2518 stories tracked

Glossary · Crewed Spaceflight

Life support (ECLSS)

The machinery that keeps the air breathable and the water drinkable, indefinitely.

An environmental control and life support system scrubs carbon dioxide, replaces oxygen, controls humidity and temperature, and recycles water. On the station it recovers about 98% of the water — from humidity, from washing, and from urine — because resupply costs thousands of dollars a litre. Oxygen is generated by splitting that water electrically. Nothing about this is optional or forgiving: a failure in the carbon dioxide scrubbers is measured in hours, which is the problem Apollo 13 solved with a hose, a sock and a manual cover.

Related terms

EVA (spacewalk) Working outside the spacecraft, in a suit that is itself a spacecraft. What weightlessness does to people Bone loss, fluid shift, weakened hearts and eyesight that does not always come back. Docking and berthing Two ways to attach a spacecraft to a station: it flies in, or it is caught and bolted on. Expedition The numbered crew rotation aboard the space station, roughly six months at a time.

Questions

What is Life support (ECLSS)?

The machinery that keeps the air breathable and the water drinkable, indefinitely.

Why does it matter?

Oxygen is generated by splitting that water electrically. Nothing about this is optional or forgiving: a failure in the carbon dioxide scrubbers is measured in hours, which is the problem Apollo 13 solved with a hose, a sock and a manual cover.

Written and computed by . Corrections and errors to hello@cantinalabs.dev.