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I wonder how pure oxygen (at low pressure to avoid toxicity) would work. There's still a substantial fire risk, as the Apollo 1 fire demonstrated, but unlike fl
by mrob 3y ago
I wonder how pure oxygen (at low pressure to avoid toxicity) would work. There's still a substantial fire risk, as the Apollo 1 fire demonstrated, but unlike flammable filler gases it won't immediately kill you with a single spark. With a sufficiently fire-proof environment, and a full body fire-proof suit, maybe it could be done.
EDIT: Although it seems the Apollo 1 fire happened with a pressurized oxygen atmosphere, not reduced pressure. Still, reduced pressure has its own dangers, because there could be sudden re-compression if the vacuum chamber failed. Re-compression barotrauma appears to be poorly studied (people don't usually work in partial vacuum). Or you could get crushed to death by the vacuum chamber imploding.
- ambicapter 3y agoApollo 1 was high pressure oxygen, since the capsule was still on earth, and they wanted to simulate the positive pressure difference between the inside of the capsule and space. In space it would have been low-pressure oxygen, just enough to satisfy human breathing requirements (so 0.19 atm).
- titanomachy 3y ago> breathing oxygen (at low pressure) Working from inside a hard-shelled pressure vessel would definitely be inconvenient. You could also build your home office 5000 m above sea level. Or work in a high-altitude balloon. Either way, the rebreather option seems a lot more practical.