On 10 Oct 2016 at 2:00, Richard Aiken wrote:

> NOTE: I've been reading about intensive farming techniques lately and
> - assuming a source of fertilizer (e.g. sewage from passing ships) and
> water (e.g. actual ice deposits or - given fusion power - cracking the
> rock itself for trace deposits) - it would be quite possible for a
> small group to raise enough food to feed itself with enough surplus to
> sell to passing Adventure Class ships.
>
> So you could have a [very small and specialized] market. It would just
> be below the grain of the random cargo generation system.

Ships will *always* have excess water to get rid of. That's because
the basic "energy" equation for animals is:

carbs + oxygen -> CO2 + water

The other two pathways are:

lipids + oxygen -> CO2 + water + "stuff"

(lipids are fats and oils)

and

protiens + oxygen -> CO2 + water + "stuff"

Our metabolisms are far from perfect so there will be fair amounts of
carbs, lipids and protien in the waste.

Anyway, all this means that for *any* port/planet that doesn't have a
biosphere, the sewage from ships will be a desirable commodity. So
will the excess water unless the place has a decent hydro percentage.

I expect most of these places will offer quite reasonable rates to
"dispose" of this stuff for visiting ships. Other trash will be
included but won't be as *needed* as the organics and water. Still
likely to be desirable though.

Though I expect that they will charge a lot *more* than "regular"
ports for any sort of "hazardous" waste.

Many years back when this came up we joked about some of the possible
consequences of this sort of thing.

For example bathrooms near the departure area with folks "encouraged"
to use them before they leave (so they leave as much biomass as
possible behind).

Or maybe even having passengers and crew weighed, and paying a tax if
they weigh more when they leave than when they entered. That could
make for some fun role playing....

Lacking a biosphere & hydro, forget extracting water from rock. There
won't be much there.

But there *will* be icy bodies farther out in the system (beyond the
"ice line" which is the distance from the star where a chunk of "ice"
can last for geological time spans)

Water gives you water (duh!) oxygen and hydrogen. Of course, it's
also the easiest thing to recycle.

But lacking a biosphere (or even atmosphere) you are also going to
need carbon and nitrogen.

Carbonaceeous chondrites will have lots of organics, and nitrogen,
plus some other things. They are essentially what's left if a comet
or other "icy" body gets stuck inside the ice line long enough.

And various other elements are important to life but might be in
short supply. Phosporus, chlorine, etc.

For your farming, depending on space available, you could use actual
"dirt" farming. Or hydroponics or even aeroponics.

Algae "tanks" are sort of a last resort or early start for both food
and air recycling.

For food, guinea pigs are a food animal. Really. Still popular in
Peru.

Rabbits are the next step up in food animal.

Both guinea pigs and rabbits will eat a lot of plant "waste". But
they do need other stuff as well.

Chickens are another good choice even if they are a lot messier.
They'll also eat various worms/grubs/insects that can be raised on
stuff humans won't eat.

Heck, various *insects* can be raised for food.

Fish are another good choice. Several varieties can ber raised in
"ponds" that aree part of the end stages of water recycling.

Sheep and goats are likely the next step up in food animals.

Pigs (unless they area small breed) are a *big* step up. Also, they
need a lot more care in handling because they are big, smart and they
can cross infect with humans.

Come to think of it chickens can too. Various strains of flu, for
example.

Cattle are going to require a *huge* habitat.

Hmm. If you can manage some fruit and nut trees, and pigs, you can
produce a lot of things like bacon and ham. Hickory smoked or
applewood smoked, for example. Once you get an orchard established
there will *always* be trimmed branches to get rid off. And
eventually trees get old an unproductive and you removed them and
start new saplings.

--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com