Jan 18, 17 / Aqu 18, 01 21:29 UTC

Sterilization system  

Sterilize the ground, sterilize the air of bacteria or germs, sterilize body (Full sterilization of the colony)

Feb 24, 17 / Pis 27, 01 03:14 UTC

The best idea in the long term would be to have personalized suits that can be sterilized independent of the owner.

The issue with the Human body is that it creates a large amount of indiscriminate waste, i.e. CO2, vapors, skin cells, hair, and the like.

To contain this on a large, low gravity outpost would be a nightmare, and studies have shown that bacteria absolutely thrives in such an environment.

Combine this with the fact the Oxygen is toxic in large amounts, and I surmise that self contained long-term EV suits would be the safest bet for long term habitation.

Think something along the lines of the Life-Suits worn by the Forerunners of the Halo Series

Feb 24, 17 / Pis 27, 01 13:08 UTC

No! NO! NO! As a person with a medical background, I cannot emphasize enough that living spaces should not, and never be, sterile environments.

Sterilization will eventually kill us faster than any amount of disease. A certain amount of 'grime' is necessary for our health, as it keeps our immune systems active and hunting. The problem stems from a small, enclosed environment and our wastes (both from the skin and elsewhere) not being able to get away from our bodies. Having our own wastes remain in close proximity is what gets us sick, but taking it to the extreme of sterilization is completely unnecessary.

Mar 7, 17 / Ari 10, 01 23:57 UTC

Then what do you suggest for a zero-g environment? Bacteria will grow unhindered by gravity, and will flourish in all three dimensions without gravity hold it down. The issue with this is that the bacteria, grime, mold, and the like will easily spread into essential systems because water vapors from exhaled air will eventually build up.

Regardless of air scrubbing equipment. The systems that work on earth will not work in low-g environments because of the low gravity. Everything will move where-ever it has the opportunity too, and with little regard for the systems in place. Self contained life support suits with cleansing features would be the best bet for not only preventing damage to essential facilities, but limiting opportunistic infections that could thrive in low gravity.

Mar 8, 17 / Ari 11, 01 00:12 UTC

There is a big difference between sterile and filthy. People can just clean every now and then, like we do on Earth.

Mar 8, 17 / Ari 11, 01 01:13 UTC

There are many, many species of bacteria that play an absolutely critical role in life processes in general. A good example is aquaponics (which seems to be an ideal method of food production on a space habitat). This system has a critical reliance on nitrifying bacteria to work. No nitrifying bacteria - no food. Most organic wastes require bacteria to break them down (eg. modern day sewage treatment, advances solid waste treatment, composting, etc, etc). A completely sterile environment means none of this happens.

Further, I have also read studies that a sterile environment is actually detrimental to the human immune system. It seems that if your immune system doesn't get "exercised" regularly, it's ability to deal with even small infection declines. There is also the issue that excessive use of antibacterial products can lead to bacterial resistance.

There are WAY more negatives of living in a completely sterile environment than positives. Of course, there is a need for balance though. As Phicksur puts it, there is a big difference between sterile and filthy. In fact, they are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Also, as a side note from other forum discussions, it seems to be a commonly held view that any space habitat would have to simulate / generate gravity. Again, there are many, many health effects to humans associated with prolonged exposure to microgravity. The likelihood of having pulsating colonies of germs floating around inside a space habitat, infecting everything in their path is an extremely remote one.

Mar 8, 17 / Ari 11, 01 08:00 UTC

yea, agree, some viruses r not lethal who r willing to co-op with us to produce vaccine, gardeners and farmers use virus to produce new genera, lots of delicious fermented food. many bacteria r good guys in agriculture and medicine(also many other), antibiotic r discovered in them (eg. penicillin, cephalosporin) and produced by culturing and extracting before finding cheaper way to synthesis. human race have to thank microbe allies a lot for what we r today.

nonetheless there r bad guys 2, in some cases, good guy and not-so-bad guy transform to lethal bad guy, like infected by the famous HIV, ppl's immune system r compromised. sterilization system is kinda failsafe measure in case a flu or other contact infection. human have co-oped with more and more microbe, lots of them r good partners though, some r not so co-operative or they mutant too fast for our present tech. efficient way is yet to develop to prevent it or help ppl get rid of them once infected, therefore we have to resume to the old method: isolate and sterilize.

it maybe expensive to have whole system sterilized 24hr/7, but can be recommended to have just a few cubes or areas strict sterilized, and other places r left "natural state" but have easy access to sterilization equipment in emergency. agree with 'unnecessary sterilization is training the microbe to b more anti-antibiotic' also.

Apr 12, 17 / Tau 18, 01 05:16 UTC

mossyunderstand if we were stay complete sterile we would weaken and lose our immunity to many desiese. Example: we been in space for a few generations and since barely anyone comes to earth, our immune systems have not had to deal with illness, that's bad. Soon as they would take a step on earth, they could for, or get I'll fast and die from what we could litteraly take as a small fever. Not good. Now that example is done. Gravity does cause most bad bacteria to spread but we kinda need it to stay on our toes so illness isn't a death worry. Not death I not the main reason. Just that's how bad it can get if our immune systems weaken entirely.

Apr 12, 17 / Tau 18, 01 11:50 UTC

Asgardia will not be in complete isolation. Supplies from Earth will be infrequently delivered, and with those supplies can be vaccines and medical injections to give to personnel to keep their immune systems 'up to date' on illnesses on Earth.

FCK

Apr 12, 17 / Tau 18, 01 17:56 UTC

Hi 

  • Bacteria is essential for a person to survive and function day to day. We need bacteria to, for example: digest food to helping keep our immune system busy. We even get some certain foods from the turning/finished fermented bacteria... So having sterilzation will cause problems in the case of good bacteria.
  • I understand that supplies will be delivered to Asgardia from earth and some of these supplies being medical equipment ( vaccines,injections, etc.) 

However we can not rule out sterilzation.

  • Sterilzation is used as a  preventative measure against the spread of disease's like the norovirus ( a nasty stomach bug ). Sterilzation is also used before someone goes to surgery where the medical equipment is sterilised.  If unsterilized equipment is used, it can cause an infection which may not appear until much later. When it does, surgery may have to be performed again in order to remove it. This is costly and can cause many life-threatening complications.
  • The disinfection of medical devices is an important practice. If proper medical sterilization was not practiced, a number of medical problems can occur. As evident, these problems can be simple or complex in nature. However, they are simple to prevent. The growth and spread of diseases are just two of the most important reasons why medical equipment must be sterilized after every use.

My analysis:

  • It will be best if we adopt a filtration system of all kinds  in Asgardia so that we can have a balance between the good and bad bacteria like on we do on earth but I also say we should adopt sterilzation in medical areas to prevent major disease outbreaks. A kind of combo.

Regards 

Fpitts



Apr 12, 17 / Tau 18, 01 19:19 UTC

Fair point, but we have to limit what can be sterilized, doing it wrong or to much will weaken our immune systems and that won't be good at all