| The most vital systems on a space station or starship, life-support covers everything from atmosphere generation and recycling to environmental control to the recycling of drinking and pumping water. Originally a series of tanks containing specialized filters, as residence in space extended from long-term to lifetimes, advances in bioengineering developed hydroponics systems for stations which both produce and recycle air and water efficiently. Environmental control, which cycles water and air through the station and maintains an even internal temperature despite the cold of space outside nibbling at the edges, runs off the same generator as the internal electrical circuits. External electrical devices, such as guide-lights, shielding and containment fields, security systems and communications, run from separate generators with extensive backup arrays.
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