New Equipment: Biobreather

[rust]

I have designed some equipment for my Samar desert world setting, and
I thought it could perhaps be interesting for others, too.

The first example is the Biobreather, used to supply a colonist wearing an
environment suit with oxygen.
It is a small bioplast tube, the inside is coated with a layer of nutrient mi-
xed with hibernating genetically modified bacteria. When water from the
environment suit's little tank is added, the bacteria become active again
and start to grow rapidly, taking the carbon dioxide from Samar's atmo-
sphere to use the carbon for their growth, and releasing the oxygen they
have no use for.
After about 8 hours the bacteria have used up all of the nutrient and die.
Since the Biobreather consists of organic material only, it can either be re-
cycled or just be discarded where it can serve as a fertilizer for the terra-
forming project.
The cost of a Biobreather tube is negligible, it is a cheap byproduct of the
colony's biological life support system.

 

[BFalcon]

Sounds good - could probably use a backpack design for longer-duration useage with a whole load of those in. They sound a bit like the bio-filters that you use on fish ponds.

Heck, you could even use a whole bunch of them as a rebreather design for an EVA suit if it was heated (the user would generate enough heat I suspect, with advanced insulation).

 

[phavoc]

Were you going add in details like the size of the breather, how users can easily put in a new cartridge/tube? Assuming the cartidge/tube has some sort of bio-degradeable packaging, users could simply toss it on the ground like trash and become terraformers in the process.

If its like how you do gas masks today, you would have to exhale into your mask, which blow back through your breathing tube to your filter. Maybe that would be enough to activate the filter so it could start working?

I personally like to read all the little details, as it makes the item feel more 'real' to me, even if they are never ever used as part of the gaming. It's also nice to have more detail so you can use it to your advantage as a referee.

 

[BFalcon]

Suggestions...

Size depends on the climate, I guess - if you just need a boost, you could probably get away with a light mask just big enough to cover your nose and mouth with one of those tubes clipped to one side (one being used and one spare for emergency use so the user always has one handy).

Maybe instead of a spare, being able to swap tube feeds through a turn-valve so you can fit new tubes without holding your breath...?

Water from the user's breath could be used to top up the supply in each tube, depending on how much it needs?

A slightly higher helmet might have a whole row of them fitted and electronically monitor the CO2 output from each tube to automatically kill the feed from the tube and swap to the next one. When you only have one tube spare it makes a warning LED flash inside the helmet.

Might also want a biodegradable dye injected into each tube or have the dead bacteria change colour as a safety measure (so you know the tube is dead when changing "filters").

I'm assuming each tube would be about the size of a thick pen or a test-tube...?

 

[rust]

This requires a bit of background story ...

The environment suits used by the Samar colonists originally had a small
rebreather backpack unit, plus a small 1 liter oxygen tank (length 35 cm,
diameter 8.5 cm) as an emergency reserve, carried in a pocket on the
leg of the overall (foreigners sometimes mistook the oxygen tank for a
weapon carried in some kind of holster).

During their work on the various bacteria strains for the terraforming pro-
ject of the Mars like planet the colony's biologists also experimented with
a strain which produced oxygen from Samar's carbon dioxide atmosphere
and enriched the planet's infertile soil with organic material. Unfortunately
this strain needed too much nutrients and water and died off too easily to
be used "in the wild", but it looked promising for other purposes.

The engineers took over. They used a bioplast sheet, made from the algae
used in the colony's life support system, smeared a mixture of nutrients
and bacteria on it, and rolled it into a tube of the same size as the oxygen
tanks of the environment suits. When they added a little water, the tube
produced oxygen.

A few more months of experimentation, and the first Biobreather prototy-
pe was ready. It fitted into the pocket of the previously used oxygen tank
and replaced the backpack rebreather unit. To use it, the colonist fills wa-
ter into the tube, connects it to the environment suit's system (basically
a plastic tube, woven into the suit, and leading to the mask's tiny regula-
tor) - and makes sure that he is back to the habitat within 8 hours, or has
a reserve tube with him.

Exchanging tubes takes only a few seconds: Fill water into the new tube,
disconnect the used tube and store or drop it, connect the new tube - done.

 

[BFalcon]

Bigger than I thought then, Rust... apologies... maybe a smaller version like I described could be used later to supplement the air supply or elsewhere where only a supplemental an air supply is required?

Also, aside from being able to discard it, what's the advantage over a refillable-tank rebreather or air tank?

(Just looked it up, found a modern aquatic closed rebreather with 2x 2l tanks and 3 hours' endurance - so a 1l, 8-hour endurance should be good at TL12+).

Another thought - maybe instead/also put two half-size on the back of the helmets (or two standard on a lightweight backpack)- a shorter tube would mean less risk of an accidental breach, is what I'm thinking... and walking with a fairly large tube on your hip is a bit more bulky - the "tubes" could be fitted into the suit a lot easier... and it could be combined with a "camel pack" for drinking water, that way (thinking two tubes, one either side of the (shaped) water bladder). Also would provide any water that was needed for the rebreather, that way. If you could fit two such tubes in there, it would give an emergency supply that way

 

[rust]

Also, aside from being able to discard it, what's the advantage over a refillable-tank rebreather or air tank?

The advantage - like the entire design - is setting specific, to produce ad-
ditional oxygen tanks for new colonists (immigrants, children ...) would re-
quire the use of metal or hard plastic for the tanks, while the biobreather
can be produced with much cheaper and more easily available materials
- a "cottage industry product".

To use the biobreather concept for another design, most probably a back-
pack unit of some kind, would indeed be the logical next step. I think that
the Samar colony's engineers will develop something of the kind you men-
tioned within the next year or so, probably together with the next model
of environment suit (the current one is not sealed well enough, some mi-
crodust gets into the suit and can cause extreme itching after a few hours
in the suit).

[I usually provide the characters with equipment which has some non-le-
thal bugs, as an incentive for the players to come up with improvements
through research projects, but if the characters miss such an opportunity
for "learning by doing" and gaining status, I let the nonplayer characters
earn the laurels, as in the biobreather case.]

 

[BFalcon]

Also, aside from being able to discard it, what's the advantage over a refillable-tank rebreather or air tank?

The advantage - like the entire design - is setting specific, to produce ad-
ditional oxygen tanks for new colonists (immigrants, children ...) would re-
quire the use of metal or hard plastic for the tanks, while the biobreather
can be produced with much cheaper and more easily available materials
- a "cottage industry product".

Fair point... I'd not considered the supply issue...

To use the biobreather concept for another design, most probably a back-
pack unit of some kind, would indeed be the logical next step. I think that
the Samar colony's engineers will develop something of the kind you men-
tioned within the next year or so, probably together with the next model
of environment suit (the current one is not sealed well enough, some mi-
crodust gets into the suit and can cause extreme itching after a few hours
in the suit).

[I usually provide the characters with equipment which has some non-le-
thal bugs, as an incentive for the players to come up with improvements
through research projects, but if the characters miss such an opportunity
for "learning by doing" and gaining status, I let the nonplayer characters
earn the laurels, as in the biobreather case.]

Fair enough... in that case the initial designs might incorporate a very small emergency O2 capsule feed just in case the single module fails - enough time to fetch a spare and fit it (probably around 20 to 30 mins) - long enough for a new module to be shipped out. Indeed, might be an idea to integrate such a capsule (probably a couple of inches in length) into all designs where the local atmosphere isn't breathable at all (just like the RL space suit rebreathers also pack an O2 cylinder). Just as a safety feature...

If you don't mind, I think I'll be nicking this idea, albeit with some possible changes, for MTU...

 

[zero]

I like this kind of organic thing, with the run-up to the Ridley Scott Alien prequel, Prometheus, I'm on a bit of a Giger kick atm

I like your ideas and would wonder your take if doing a more fully biomechanical version of something like this.
I've read up in the Darrians pdf (how did I do Traveller before it :lol: ), the TL 13 aquatic bioengineering attempts on Jacent, I really would love to picture an advanced version of their Pressure Respirator that was an engineered organic creature that is worn.

The TL 11 mask is a fine mesh that covers the nose and mouth and excess is vented from little exhausts either side that can blow hair in a fashionable way as the wearer breathes.

The mask I think of would be a biomechanical creature, just big enough to fit over the nose and mouth that take in the atmosphere via a very thin layer of skin that would absorb some of the pressure and any unwanted elements, possibly gaining nutrition/power from them, leaving a low-pressure, clean atmosphere for the Darrian and then little airpouches at either side would fill up and deflate back into the atmos with external breathing.
I already see their Exoskeleton for higher G worlds like a Gantz Suit and Guard Armour sounds alot like MGS4 Octocamo, so I already have a rubbery-leathery asthetic for the Darrian's clothing/armour.

 

[rust]

If you don't mind ...

Of course not, whatever I post on a public forum is "public domain".

 

[rust]

I like your ideas and would wonder your take if doing a more fully biomechanical version of something like this.

Unfortunately I cannot use as much and as advanced biotech in my cur-
rent settings as I used to do in previous ones. The players do no longer
trust most biotech since a virus infected and killed their living equipment
in another setting ...

 

[zero]

^ Thats kinda sad (for the chars) yet highly hilarious at the same time :wink:

Like I said, its only TL 13 biotech, I was asking more if you could give some opinions based on the great fluff for your bio-breather really.

 

[rust]

The TL 11 mask is a fine mesh that covers the nose and mouth and excess is vented from little exhausts either side that can blow hair in a fashionable way as the wearer breathes.

If I remember it right, both 2300 AD (as one of the Pentapod products)
and Star Wars (in the Naboo movie) had that kind of organic breather.

It could be a creature similar to a mostly transparent octopus, with the
body covering the diver's face (including the eyes to reduce irritation
from the salt water) and absorbing the oxygen from the water and fee-
ding it into the mouth or nose of the diver, and the tentacles holding the
creature in place.
Since much of the original creature's body tissue would no longer be nee-
ded when the creature is fed nutrients instead of having to hunt and is
cloned instead of having to reproduce naturally, the "breathing octopus"
could be quite small and thin.
Using the octopus' ability to change colour, the creature could turn red to
warn the diver that there is some dangerous substance or not enough
oxygen in the water.

Just some thoughts ...

By the way, for my Varuna water world setting, now in the Babylon 5 uni-
verse, I use artificial gills ("biogills") very much like what BFalcon propo-
sed, a slim backpack unit with neutral buoyancy. The main difference to
the biobreather is that it is not discarded after use, it is stored in a tank
with a nutrient solution until the next use.

 

[BFalcon]

Seem to remember something like that in Rifts: Wormwood too...

I tend not to like pure bio-devices - too prone to viruses, toxins and allergies - used on one planet where you know all the variables, it's fairly reliable (although a risk does still remain). On a planet where you know nothing of the local biological threats, it would be potential suicide. You would need to spend years per planet making sure that there's no pollens or other irritants or any biological agents that would attack the organism...

The last thing you need to find when you're using a survival device is that you cannot rely on it because of an allergy you didn't know about previously or because a new virus outbreak wipes them out.

Feeding is another problem, particularly for survival equipment that isnt' used regularly, but to feed such a creature, you'd need to have tanks of them with nutrient feeds and filters, all of which will take up room far larger than the item size would suggest.

An advanced technological device also has problems, but if storage size or non-use endurance is an issue, the tech devices may be better. Another aspect is that a filter on any air intakes would probably cut out most threats.

 

[rust]

I tend not to like pure bio-devices - too prone to viruses, toxins and allergies - used on one planet where you know all the variables, it's fairly reliable (although a risk does still remain).

Yes, indeed. For example, the first version of Varuna's biogills suffered
from a strange series of unexplained malfunctions which almost killed
several of the colony's dolphineers. The characters needed quite a whi-
le to find out that the dolphins' natural sonar killed the bacteria in the
biogills, and almost as long to come up with a new kind of bioplast which
was not sonar transparent. :twisted:

 

[zero]

BFalcon makes some fair points, but thanks rust for an awesome description of the item (even though I am using it to side-step high atmos pressure worlds, not breath underwater :wink: ).

It'll be more biomechanical rather than a purely biological creature, even then its for the asthetic. It would be a mechanical device, but look like it was alive :lol:

I had an idea that the octopus' body would act as the filter, also gathering particles to feed it and it would also more conventionally feed on the external breath of the Darrian wearing it, that the small exhausts either side of the mouth were actually digestion tubes, the remaining atmos would then be "excreted" out of the mask.

Actual filter and respirator parts would be fused into the creature and like said, alot of the alien octopus' actual body tissue doesnt exist anymore and it mainly feeds off atmosphere, it could be kept in a small container that takes atmos from the ship to keep it alive.
A small system built into the mask can take a genetic sample from the creature to grow replacing parts if it fails (through age mainly).