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"[Science fiction] is the one literary medium left in which we have a free hand. We can do any damn thing we please."
- Alfred Bester
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| Martian Sawgrass | ||
| Specialized variety of plant that is used to provide oxygen for space stations. |
The new Director of the Venus Equilateral station goes on a routine inspection of the "air plant" and what does he find?
It turned out that the "air plant" was - Martian sawgrass.
"I found that instead of a bunch of machinery, running smoothly, purifying air, and sending it out to the various parts of the station, all there was was a veritable jungle of weeds... I had some workmen clear the weeds out."
| "What better purifying machine is there than a plot of grass?" shouted Channing. "... We breathe oxygen, exhale CO2. Plants inhale CO2 and exhale oxygen. An air plant means just that. It is a specialized type of Martian sawgrass that uses chlorophyll... We've spent years getting that plant so it will grow just right. It got so good that the CO2 detectors weren't even needed... |
| Technovelgy from QRM - Interplanetary,
by George O. Smith. Published by Street and Smith in 1942 Additional resources -
|
To save the station from bureaucratic stupidity, an immediate order for "as many oxydrums on the fastest ship they've got" was issued to suppliers back on Earth.
Also, in his excellent 1950 short story The Morning of the Day They Did It, EB White refers to this same idea:
Also, read about the oxygen weeds from The Sands of Mars (1951) by Arthur C. Clarke and green guk from The Beat Cluster (1961) by Fritz Leiber.
Compare to the spaceship garden from The Heritage of the Earth (1932) by Harley S. Aldinger, the
asteroid garden from Asteroid of Fear (1951) by Raymond Z. Gallun,
bubble world from At the Bottom of a Hole (1966) by Larry Niven, the
lunar greenhouse tunnel from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert Heinlein and
lifezones from Tides of Light (1989) by Gregory Benford.
Every subway rider knew that the two men on the [space] platform were breathing oxygen thrown off from big squash vines that they had taken along..."
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from QRM - Interplanetary
More Ideas
and Technology by George O. Smith
Tech news articles related to QRM - Interplanetary
Tech news articles related to works by George O. Smith
Martian Sawgrass-related
news articles:
- Elektron Oxygen Generator Versus Martian Sawgrass
- CAMRAS Recycles Every Breath You Take
- Space Station Could Use Some Martian Sawgrass
- Fresh Veggies, Fresh Air For Mars
- Man-Made Space Leaf Creates Oxygen From Water And Light
- Space Synthetic Biology Grand Challenges
| Living Human Neuron Biological Compute Rack |
| Biological War: A Scenario |
| What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells? |
| Black Fungus Blocks Radiation |
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
