In Archive-Message-Number 247, Bart Massey ([email removed])
replied to my example cargo table entry for grain:
Me:
> Explosive: Air in hold must be filtered to remove grain dust, or any spark
> or flame will cause an explosion.
Bart:
> Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't shipping grain in hard vacuum be almost
> ideal?? Keep the pesties down, as well as reduce the explosion hazard... I
> know it was just an example -- I was mostly curious if I'm missing
> something... (e.g. popping corn probably should be kept pressurized, although
> using an inert gas would still seem to be easier than filtering :-)
I'd never really thought about it. The comments were paraphrased from
an article in _Challenge_ #26. Now that you mention it, there is
probably a better way. I'm not sure about the effect of hard vacuum
on most grains, but popping corn probably doesn't have quite the
explosion danger of, say, wheat. Pumping in nitrogen looks like a
good solution - it's cheap, is reasonably inert, and most beasties
can't breathe it. Of course, the crew can't either, making
inspections of the cargo hold rather difficult since most ship designs
have only an iris valve or hatch into the cargo bay.
Thanks for the comments. Any others?
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Mark Power [email removed]
Health Information Systems
University of Alabama Hospital
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