Editing Joshua Pawlicki's Explanation of How It Works (section)

===''Shipboard Recycling Systems''===
One of the major problems with modern spacecraft is limited oxygen. Firefly/Serenity solves this problem by constructing a miniature ecosystem on board the ship by utilizing tanks of algae. The algae recycles the carbon that humans release by respiration, producing breathable oxygen as a result (look up Photosynthesis for more). The carbon, however, is not taken from the algae, which maintains an equilibrium due to crowded conditions and starvation. The air is pumped by fans through the algae tanks, dissolved into the water, and then extracted by filtered evaporation. The upshot is that this can also keep the hydration levels of the atmosphere on board acceptable. The downside is that if your Gravity Drive breaks, your fusion reactor shuts off, the power shuts off, you lose ventilation, and the air goes bad. Human Waste is heated to evaporate as much water as economically possible, then compacted into cute little cubes using artificial gravity. You can filter contaminated water to some degree by evaporation, of course, if you have the spare heat (which most ships do), but few ships include designs for this, as water is a common resource and easily purchased anyways.
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