Life Support
Life Support
Every starship has a life support system that allows the ship's occupants to survive the harsh environment of space in relative comfort. The type of environment the system produces depends upon the type of occupant it must accommodate. All life support systems must provide a breathable atmosphere, and most also provide a comfortable gravitational environment.
Atmosphere Generation
The most common atmosphere-generating life support systems are built around chemical converters. Either biological or synthetic converters take the pilot's and passengers' waste elements, such as carbon dioxide, and convert them into usable form. In starfighters, converters are simply miniature recycling plants; but in large starships, converters may be gigantic systems, able to support many different living organisms.
Some starfighters—notably the Imperial TIE series—do not have atmospheric converters built into them; instead each pilot's space suit contains a converter.
Many starships come equipped with converters that can be set to provide comfortable environs for many different species. Of course, this capability is limited by the physical characteristics of the ship's interior: the design of life support systems must take into account the ship's probable occupants.
Gravity and Inertial Compensation
Aside from providing an atmosphere, life support systems must also provide a gravitational environment for the pilots and passengers.
In most starfighters, modified repulsorlift technology is used to create an antigravity field within the cockpit which negates most or all gee force effects that come into play as a result of the ship's maneuvers. The overall effect upon the pilot is a constant low- or zero-gravity environment, regardless of acceleration, deceleration, turning, and so on.
In larger starships, the situation is vastly different. Huge gravity generators, powered from the ship's main engines or auxiliary power cells, create constant gravitational fields that can be tailored and adjusted to fit the ship's occupants. On luxury liners, for example: • Certain areas of the ship maintain lighter fields than others to provide for elderly passengers for whom locomotion has become difficult. • Other areas maintain zero-g fields for sports competitions. • Other areas, such as cargo bays, may maintain strong fields to ensure stability.
Of course, a luxury liner is also compartmentalized with respect to the various species which journey aboard, and each compartment's gravitational field must be adjusted for the passengers it contains. Other mid-sized and larger starships, such as light freighters, have gravity generators as well, but they are usually not as flexible.
Notable Example: Ithorian Vessels
Probably the most impressive life support systems are found aboard Ithorian vessels. These were modeled after the "herds" in which the Ithorians live on their planet's surface. These ships maintain an atmosphere and gravity field so much like the planet itself that the Ithorians have brought a bit of their home planet to the stars with them. Miniature jungles, complete with vegetation and small animal life in natural habitats, thrive aboard these ships.
Source: REUP:420