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"It wasn't until I was past forty that it bacame clear that I was going to be quote, successful, unquote."
- Isaac Asimov
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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... |
| 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
| Tsunami Forecasts Improved By Ionosphere Signals |
| EctoLife Concept Video Artificial Womb For Baby Mass Production |
| T. Gondii And The Leaders Of The Pack |
| Alien Eyes - Here On Earth! |
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'Chain of hotels that specialized in non-human service.'
'But then... not every bulldozer operator works on the Moon.'
'Griff found the white and pink map distracting and switched it off using his tongue mouse.'
'Jimmy Cardigan and Harlowe, staring through the darkside port, had their feet in the foot-loops...'
'But the rising sign, as it had been designed to do, held his eyes. A vast circle of scarlet stars came up into the greenish desert dusk.'
'A lightning pilot possibly could land that tin toy without power and still walk away from it provided he had the skill to play Skip-to-M’Lou in and out of the atmosphere...'
'It was you who betrayed me — you and your robot cat.'
'with its atomic engine as noiseless as a dancing sunbeam...'
