The Santa Monica Shot

Cut off from all but radio contact with other human beings, confined to a 40-ft.-long chamber and breathing the same limited supply of oxygen over and over, four California college students might as well be in far-off space. And that is the idea. Ever since they were sealed up in a white steel cylinder in an outbuilding behind the McDonnell Douglas Corp.'s Santa Monica plant on Feb. 19, the students have been testing a life-support system designed for future orbital missions t hat could last for 60 days or longer.

To minimize the amount of oxygen necessary to maintain the two-gas atmosphere (44% oxygen, 56% nitrogen) that the student crew breathes, the simulated spacecraft is equipped with a concentrator that pulls exhaled carbon dioxide out of the air. The carbon dioxide is combined in a catalytic reactor with hydrogen and converted into water and methane. An electrolysis system then decomposes the water into oxygen--for breathing--and hydrogen that is used to feed the catalyti c reactor. Reluctant to waste even the squeal of this chemical pig, McDonnell Doug las engineers are working on spacecraft thrusters that can be powered with the methane byproduct of the process.

Charcoal-Filtered. Although 1,200 lbs. to 1,500 lbs. of stored water would normally be necessary to sustain a crew of four on a 60-day mission, the California students embarked with only 80 lbs.-- plus a 200-lb. retrieval system that recovers water from both urine and moisture in the cabin atmosphere. As urine is collected, it is pumped over an array of felt wicks. Air is drawn into the system from the cabin, heated to more than 110DEG F. and blown across the soggy wicks. The heated air, containing cabin moisture, picks up additional moisture from the wicks--leaving the solids behind. It is next passed through a charcoal filter to remove odors and then through a condenser, which causes the moisture to form water droplets. Finally, the reclaimed water is sent through a commercial filter to remove any remaining bacteria and organic materials.

While breathing their reclaimed air and drinking their reclaimed water, the students (who are being paid $3 per hour for their trouble) are performing other duties that will give space scientists an insight into the behavior of crews on long space missions. Each man is assigned daily make-work chores, such as reading instruments, following instructions radioed in from outside and manipulating controls. At regular intervals, they take one another's pulse, respiration and blood pressure or enter a medical instrument unit that enables physicians outside the cabin to perform a remote-controlled medical checkup.

Speed Reading. During recreation hours, members of the student crew--who range in age from 21 to 28, have about the same physical and psychological qualifications required for astronauts--go to extreme lengths to avoid boredom. They have practiced script-lettering and speed reading (one has progressed from 350 words to 4,400 words per minute), passed questionnaires and notes in bottles to the experiment team outside, and performed trumpet and harmonica duets.

As the experiment went into its final week, McDonnell Douglas scientists reported, systems were working satisfactorily and crew morale was high. One of the biggest complaints to date has concerned the urine-derived drinking water. Griped the crew: "It tastes flat."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.