Kerbals

Biological needs

Kerbals need a constant supply of basic resources, Food, Water and Oxygen otherwise they will eventually perish.

RULE CONSUME PRODUCE MASS PER-DAY (Kg) UNITS PER-DAY
Eating Food Waste 0.07375 0.27
Drinking Water WasteWater 0.14 0.14
Breathing Oxygen WasteAtmosphere 0.05287 37.5

Individual consumption may vary.


Psychological needs

Kerbals will suffer mental breakdown after some time, it can be increased by providing.

  • More habitat volume per-capita.
  • A pressurized habitat.
  • Basic comforts.

Environmental hazards

Kerbals will die if environmental conditions get out of hand, such as.

  • CO2 poisoning from being exposed to high CO2 levels (above 2%) in the internal atmosphere for too long. CO2 levels are maintained by using Scrubbers and/or Greenhouses.
  • Exposed to extreme levels of humidity (above 95%) in the internal atmosphere for too long. Humidity is maintained at a constant 60% by using the Humidity controllers.
  • Exposed to temperatures outside of the survivable range. The internal temperature in a vessel is maintained constantly within the survivable range if there is enough ElectricCharge present. The climatization system uses ElectricCharge in proportion to the volume of the habitat to climatize and the difference between the external temperature and the survivable range.
  • Exposed to extreme levels of radiation. Radiation belts have extremely high levels, and solar storms will dramatically increase the radiation for all vessels in a region temporarily. Shielding can be specified per-part in the VAB to reduce the environmental radiation reaching the internal habitat.

LSS

Each pod or the External LSS Unit (ECLSS) can be configured with Life Support System setups from among the following.

ECLSS SETUP DESCRIPTION TECH REQUIRED
Scrubber Sequester CO2 from the internal atmosphere  
Pressure control Consume Nitrogen to keep the internal pressure at an acceptable level Engineering 101
Humidity controller Extract potable water from the internal atmosphere and maintain humidity at 60% Survivability
Water recycler Extract potable water, ammonia and CO2 out of waste water Space Exploration
Waste processor Extract ammonia out of organic waste Advanced Exploration
Monoprop fuel cell Burn monoprop and O2, producing EC with by-products of water and nitrogen Advanced Electrics

Greenhouse

The Greenhouse is based on design targets from the Prototype Lunar Greenhouse which is designed primarily to support the oxygen needs of one person rather than food needs. Thus one Greenhouse supports one kerbal with 100% of his/her O2 needs and half of its food needs per crop, a full crop can be harvested every 200 days, or you can use the emergency harvest function to harvest whatever amount of food has grown earlier.

The greenhouse growth is configured to.

  • consume Water and Ammonia.
  • consume CO2 from waste atmosphere and/or pressurized tanks.
  • consume ElectricCharge for the artificial lighting lamps, when their use is required.
  • require an internal pressure of at least 10kPA.
  • require radiation levels not in excess of 0.03 rad/h.
  • produce Oxygen and Food.