Rapid decompression

[Carlobrand]

Starship operations include an HVAC system. Decompression in one area would put this system into overtime pumping air into that environment. At TL15 it might be a pretty competent system for brief time periods, although noisy. The intention might be to allow crew members in damaged areas the opportunity to address the issue or escape within a couple minutes.

Kinda depends on the size of your ship and how much reserve atmosphere you can carry. A good idea if the system is designed with some brains, enough to make sure you reserve some to refill the section once the hole is sealed. I think in that case you want the system to push O2 only, raise the O2 partial pressure as the pressure drops so people can function longer. No point in wasting nitrogen. Still, the question is, how much spare atmosphere can you carry without starting to make a dent in your cargo capacity? In other words, how much can be justified as being part of the standard 4 dTon stateroom allowance, so you don't end up having to pay for it elsewhere?

...On another note, there is still gravity from the gravitic plating and i'd assume a ship heating system other than Air through HVAC. ...

I'm not sure of the point here. Having power for gravitics is useful - the people can move normally and aren't challenged by weightlessness on top of trying to get to safety. I'm not sure what relevance the heating system has.

...Have you ever been in one of those simulated (or real) hurricanes? Jumped out of an airplane? It's necessary to work harder on the basics like breathing.

I've never jumped out of an airplane. I have been through a couple of Hurricanes when I lived in Houston. A bit inland from the full force, but they were still calling them hurricanes when they went over us. Made a right royal mess of the downtown area, breaking windows on the tall buildings and leaving the streets riddled with glass. I did not notice any breathing effect as it went through, but I was inside my house. Did go outside during the eye, briefly, didn't want to be out there when the winds picked up again. I didn't notice any breathing effect there either. On the other hand, when I moved from Houston to Albuquerque, I did find myself becoming breathless quite frequently.

As part of Air Force flight training, we went through a rapid decompression. A large altitude chamber was evacuated as low as it would go while we were in the much smaller airlock entrance. When the large connecting valve was opened we went from near sea level to over 35,000 ft in a few seconds. The airlock filled with fog from the decompression cooling. It felt like I had been punched in the chest as the air escaped from my lungs. While it wasn't true vacuum, we had sufficient time to locate and don oxygen masks. Pressure breathing at altitude is interesting, opposite of Scuba. On commercial spaceflights I'm sure there would be some basic training like current airline briefings and ship lifeboat drills. I've seen a NASA video showing a puncture of a small pressurized compartment to vacuum with an assortment of electronic equipment. In addition to the fog there was some actual smoke as high voltage electronics arced and started small fires which went out as the air escaped.

35,000 feet takes us to 0.24 atmospheres, if I have it right. Tells me a person can work with O2 at that pressure. What is pressure breathing? Is the O2 being delivered at a higher pressure, and if so how high? Is 0.24 atmosphere about the limit for that?

I know the FAA sets limits on air flight altitude so that passengers remain conscious long enough to put those O2 masks on, usually 40,000 feet. Concorde was rated to fly higher, 60,000 feet, but there was some issue with Concorde flying high enough that the O2 masks wouldn't be useful - they had to have smaller windows and a reserve air supply to counter decompression briefly while the plane descended.

 

[savage]

I'm not sure of the point here. Having power for gravitics is useful - the people can move normally and aren't challenged by weightlessness on top of trying to get to safety. I'm not sure what relevance the heating system has.


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Merely that the architects have a number of tools at their disposal to lesson the effects of a hull breach for brief periods of time. This is TL15 and we'd see some very high tech answers to a serious problem. The Trek answer is a force field. BG was more brutal.
Gravitics can manipulate the movement of objects and people.

 

[Enoki]

As part of Air Force flight training, we went through a rapid decompression. A large altitude chamber was evacuated as low as it would go while we were in the much smaller airlock entrance. When the large connecting valve was opened we went from near sea level to over 35,000 ft in a few seconds. The airlock filled with fog from the decompression cooling. It felt like I had been punched in the chest as the air escaped from my lungs. While it wasn't true vacuum, we had sufficient time to locate and don oxygen masks. Pressure breathing at altitude is interesting, opposite of Scuba. On commercial spaceflights I'm sure there would be some basic training like current airline briefings and ship lifeboat drills. I've seen a NASA video showing a puncture of a small pressurized compartment to vacuum with an assortment of electronic equipment. In addition to the fog there was some actual smoke as high voltage electronics arced and started small fires which went out as the air escaped.

This seems pretty accurate. If you have emergency oxygen available immediately you and can get it in place you survive. Otherwise within less than a minute you are unconscientious and then die from lack of oxygen and the rapid drop in temperature.

I would think that a starship has some basic precautions in place. Maybe an automatic rupture sealing system for example. Of course, on a poorly maintained far trader... :nonono:

If space travel is relatively common, like air travel today, then unless you are on some third rate ship or such this is unlikely to be a huge threat.

The fog seems normal for this sort of occurrence. You won't be sucked out the hole unless you are right by it and even then you may end up being useful as a plug for much of the hole.

I would assume that ships would automatically close hatches etc., if these weren't already in such a situation.

Of course, given that Traveller ships use liquid hydrogen for fuel you could always have a massive fire aboard. In many ways this could be far more dangerous as it melts the wiring in a compartment, etc.

 

[Hovtej]

Pressure

What is pressure breathing? Is the O2 being delivered at a higher pressure, and if so how high?

I'm no expert on pressure breathing, but it appears that the oxygen supply delivers at a somewhat constant pressure suited to what your lungs require. When the surrounding air pressure is very low, the oxygen flows into your lungs very easily without the outside resitance against your chest and lungs. But when you try to exhale, you don't have the outside air pressure helping you, so it takes some effort. Based on what little I've done, it gets tiring after a while. The Air Force troops that worked the altitude chamber on a regular basis did not seem to mind. Scuba appears to have the opposite effect since the surrounding water pressure would resist inhaling but aid exhaling. Maybe someone with scuba experience could comment. There should be some lesser, but similar effects on planets with lower or higher air pressure.