Life Support - UmbraSpaceIndustries/MKS GitHub Wiki

This data is as of USI-LS 0.5.4

Life Support in USI Kolonization System (UKS)

As of KSP 1.1 and UKS 0.30.0 USI-LS is the new default life support system for UKS. TAC-LS is not yet fully supported by UKS; contributions to creating the TAC-LS configurations would be appreciated.

USI Life Support (0.5.4) for USI Kolonization System (MKS 0.50.5)

For more USI Life Support documentation, check the USI-LS wiki.

USI Life Support is a simplified life support system that relies on four resources to keep your Kerbals alive:

  • :zap:ElectricCharge, a stock resource in the game.
  • :green_apple:Supplies, or Nutritional Organic Meal Substitute (N.O.M.S.) for your Kerbals.
  • :poop:Mulch, a byproduct of :green_apple:Supplies consumption which can be recycled back into :green_apple:Supplies.
  • :seedling:Fertilizer, used in some early conversion cycles and for more an efficient production. Can be produced, if you have MKS installed.

:zap:ElectricCharge is simply the electric charge which is part of the stock game (solar panels, batteries, etc.). Kerbals require 0.01 :zap:ElectricCharge per second which 36 EC/hr. If you lack solar panels or RTGs, make sure you have a large enough battery for your mission!

:green_apple:Supplies are provided by USI Life Support containers. The supplies consumed by a single kerbal is set at 1.8/hour for USI-LS with and without UKS installed.

Supplies Consumed Mulch Produced
A single Kerbal 1.8/hour (.0005 per second) 1.8/hour (.0005 per second)

Kerbals can go 90 hours without :green_apple:Supplies without incident. After 90 hours Kerbals will simply stop working. They'll stay in their seat but they won't EVA, they won't command the ship - they'll act like tourists. Once provided :green_apple:Supplies, they'll return to work. By default this includes exceptional veteran Kerbals (Jeb, Bill, Bob, Valentina - those in orange suits) however you can change the 'NoSupplyEffectVets' configuration in the setting.cfg file so that they will be immune to the tourist effect. Additionally, on Kerbin, Kerbals will not strike if below 25km altitude. They will still consume resources but will happily keep working. Assume they find some berries to eat if they run out of food. No need to manage :green_apple:Supplies for ground bases and most atmospheric craft on Kerbin.

Parts in USI Life Support Install

  • Life Support MiniPak (Supplies): 100 :green_apple:Supplies, surface mount
  • Life Support MiniPak (Fertilizer): 100 :pouch:Fertilizer, surface mount
  • Life Support MiniPak (Mulch): 100 :poop:Mulch, surface mount
  • Life Support Tank (1.25): 500 :green_apple:Supplies, inline mount
  • Life Support Tank (2.5): 4,500 :green_apple:Supplies, inline mount
  • Life Support Tank (3.75): 15,000 :green_apple:Supplies, inline mount
  • Fertilizer Tank (1.25): 500 :seedling:Fertilizer, inline mount
  • Fertilizer Tank (2.5): 4,500 :seedling:Fertilizer, inline mount
  • Fertilizer Tank (3.75): 15,000 :seedling:Fertilizer, inline mount

There are three Nom-O-Matic Greenhouses that use the recipe: :green_apple:Supplies = :poop:Mulch + :zap:ElectricCharge + :seedling:Fertilizer.

Quick Reference for how many days supplies will support a single Kerbal

Supplies Kerbin Days
100 9.26
500 46.30
4,500 416.67 (1.14 years)
15,000 1388.89 (3.8 years)

Parts in USI Kolonization Install

Recyclers reduce the need for supplies by assuming that your Kerbals will use the recyclers as needed to reduce the amount of supplies pulled from storage.

USI-LS Recyclers

Part Recycler % Crew Affected
USI-LS RT-500 Recycling Module 60% 1
USI-LS RT-5000 Recycling Module 79% 3

MKS Recyclers

Part Recycler % Crew Affected
Stock Mobile Processing Lab 70% 5
MKS 'Duna' Kerbitat 77% 4
MKS 'Duna' Pioneer 70% 4
MKS 'Tundra' Kerbitat (2.5m) 81% 4
MKS 'Tundra' Kerbitat (3.5m) 96.5% 4
MKS 'Tundra' Pioneer - Logistics Module 70% 4

MKS Purifiers

Purifiers are recyclers that consumer Water to provide a higher efficiency.

Part Recycler % Crew Affected
MKS 'Duna' Kerbitat 88.5% 4
MKS 'Tundra' Kerbitat (2.5m) 90.5% 4
MKS 'Tundra' Kerbitat (3.5m) 93.25% 4

Converters:

Three MKS modules have converters that produce :green_apple:Supplies: the Ranger Agricultural Module, the Duna Agricultural Module, and the Tundra Agriculture Module. There are three variants of converter: Agropnics; Cultivator(D) (for Dirt); and Cultivator(S) (for Substrate). Each converter has a different recipe for producing :green_apple:Supplies:

  • Agroponics = :seedling:Fertilizer + :poop:Mulch
  • Cultivator(D) = :seedling:Fertilizer + :droplet:Water + :black_large_square:Dirt
  • Cultivator(S) = :seedling:Fertilizer + :droplet:Water + :gem:Substrate

All the converters require :zap:ElectricCharge and :gear:Machinery.

The following table shows how they compare. Numbers are in units per hour.

Agriculture Module Converter :green_apple:Supplies Out :zap: EC :gear:Machinery :droplet: Water :seedling:Fertilizer :poop:Mulch :black_large_square:Dirt :gem:Substrate
Duna Agroponics 5.15 10,296 0.0067 0.00 0.500 4.68 0.00 0.00
Duna Cultivator(D) 0.40 20,232 0.0067 9.00 0.040 0.00 9.00 0.00
Duna Cultivator(S) 0.94 19,764 0.0067 9.36 0.893 0.00 0.00 9.36
Ranger Agroponics 20.08 40,140 0.0367 0.00 1.830 18.25 0.00 0.00
Ranger Cultivator(D) 1.54 78,732 0.0367 36.00 0.153 0.00 36.00 0.00
Ranger Cultivator(S) 3.62 72,792 0.0367 36.00 0.360 0.00 0.00 36.00
Tundra(2.5m) Agroponics 8.32 16,632 0.0067 0.00 0.760 7.56 0.00 0.00
Tundra(2.5m) Cultivator(D) 0.65 33,120 0.0067 16.20 0.390 0.00 16.20 0.00
Tundra(2.5m) Cultivator(S) 1.55 32,652 0.0067 15.48 0.155 0.00 0.00 15.48
Tundra(3.75m) Agroponics 14.85 29,700 0.0283 0.00 1.350 13.50 0.00 0.00
Tundra(3.75m) Cultivator(D) 1.13 57,960 0.0283 28.35 0.113 0.00 28.35 0.00
Tundra(3.75m) Cultivator(S) 2.66 33,120 0.0283 26.64 0.267 0.00 0.00 26.64

Kolonization parts must be staffed and efficiency bonuses govern total throughput, but not conversion ratios.

Resource Economics

:green_apple:Supplies are part of a simple resource loop: :green_apple:Supplies -> :poop:Mulch, :poop:Mulch + :seedling:Fertilizer -> :green_apple:Supplies. :seedling:Fertilizer is a required resource for converters that produce supplies. Fertilizer generation can be accomplished by using the MK-III Industrial Regolith Sifter or the MK-V Crush-O-Matic Portable Extractor with Gypsum. The MK-III Industrial regolith Sifter can also generate Fertilizer using Minerals. In addition, the stock Convert-O-Tron 125 can produce Fertilizer from Ore, though this process is inefficient.

Kerbals automatically produce one unit of :poop:Mulch for each unit of :green_apple:Supplies consumed. :poop:Mulch needs to be stored in a suitable container such as the Pioneer Module, otherwise it's purged as it's produced. :poop:Mulch can be immediately recycled back to :green_apple:Supplies using :zap:ElectricCharge and :seedling:Fertilizer in a Nom-O-Matic 5000 or 25000/25000-I Greenhouse Module. Nom-O-Matics do not need to be staffed and do not benefit from workload efficiency bonuses.

Resource Flow as of USI-LS 0.32.0 and UKS 0.32.0 (January 2015)

Supply Chart courtesy of GrandByte posted to UKS forum thread.

There is currently no fully closed loop cycle without some form of ongoing resource extraction. Surface access to :droplet:Water, :black_large_square:Dirt, and Gypsum/Minerals/Ore is required for self-sustaining colonies. Each unit of :seedling:Fertilizer that is brought or fabricated is capable of turning 8 units of :poop:Mulch into 9 units of :green_apple:Supplies.

TAC Life Support for OKS/MKS:

At this time (November 29, 2016) there are no updated TAC-LS configuration files. This section is retained to show how it worked previously.

This was accurate as of TAC Life Support (TAC-LS) version 0.11.1.20 and MKS 0.31.6. As TAC is not the default Life Support, this section is a low priority for updating.

The rough idea is the same for USI-LS, as the same converters will use and produce their counterparts in TAC-LS.

Short Version

Just want to know how to keep your Kerbals alive, read this. If you want more details skip to the sections below.

In order to keep Kerbals alive, you will need:

Long Version

To survive, Kerbals need each (Kerbin-)Day

  • Water (0,242 u)
  • Oxygen (37,012 u)
  • Food (0,366 u)
  • ElectricCharge (306 u)

and they produce each (Kerbin-)Day:

  • WasteWater (0,308 u)
  • CarbonDioxide (31,971 u)
  • Waste (0,033 u)

USI Kolonization Systems provide Converters to extend Life Support.

Resources Flows

There are three recycling circuits for each pair of the needed/produced resources. These circuits are self-sustaining. You do not need to add additional resources to keep them going.

NOTE: The following conversions are only added when TAC Life Support is installed.

Food, Water and Oxygen

The Fast Conversion

The Greenhouse Converter of the Pioneer Module converts Waste, WasteWater and CarbonDioxide back into Food, Water and Oxygen.

Greenhouse Converter Production (at 100% workload efficiency):

Resource Consumes Produces
ElectricCharge 6
Waste 0,000006157408
WasteWater 0,00005699074
CarbonDioxide 0,005920515596
Food 0,000033854166
Water 0,000022376158
Oxygen 0,003427075124
Machinery 0.000001
Recyclables 0.000001
2000 Machinery required for full operation

The Slower Conversion

The Greenhouse Converter of the Aeroponics Module converts Waste, WasteWater and CarbonDioxide into Organics.

Greenhouse Converter Production (at 100% workload efficiency):

Resource Consumes Produces
ElectricCharge 12
Waste 0,000001539352
WasteWater 0,000014247686
CarbonDioxide 0,001480128898
Organics 0,000045
Machinery 0.000001
Recyclables 0.000001
2000 Machinery required for full operation

The same process can be achieved with the MK-V Agricultural Module but with higher consumption/production.

Greenhouse Converter Production (at 100% workload efficiency):

Resource Consumes Produces
ElectricCharge 12
Waste 0,000003078704
WasteWater 0,00002849537
CarbonDioxide 0,002960257798
Organics 0,000075
Machinery 0.000001
Recyclables 0.000001
2000 Machinery required for full operation

Using :seedling:Fertilizer produces more Organics with the same amount as you would use with the Greenhouse Converter of the Aeroponics Module.

Agroponics Converter Production (at 100% workload efficiency):

Resource Consumes Produces
ElectricCharge 12
Waste 0,000001539352
WasteWater 0,000014247686
CarbonDioxide 0,001480128898
Fertilizer 0,0000025
Organics 0,0000525
Machinery 0.000001
Recyclables 0.000001
2000 Machinery required for full operation

Using These Organics

The Habitat Converter of the Kerbitat(tm) converts Organics into Food, Water and Oxygen.

The same process can be achieved with the MK-V Habitation Module.

Habitat Converter Production (at 100% workload efficiency):

Resource Consumes Produces
ElectricCharge 6
Organics 0,0001
Food 0,000033854166
Water 0,000022376158
Oxygen 0,003427075124
Machinery 0.000001
Recyclables 0.000001
2000 Machinery required for full operation

Efficiency

The Aeroponics Module and Kerbitat(tm) can support an unlimited number of Kerbals based on the number of available:

A rough estimation is that for MKS, two MK-V Agriculture Modules with a single MK-V Habitation Module can support 2 Kerbals. For OKS, two Agricultural Modules and a Habitation Ring will support 10 Kerbals.

Guidelines

Quoting Roverdude:

On land bases, with water and substrate drills, Cultivator is best (free organics from renewable harvestables).

For extending supplies on an orbital station, Agroponics is best. Always. It's mass neutral. (1 ton of waste/fertilizer stuff becomes 1 ton of organics). If the fertilizer runs out, you can use the greenhouse in a pinch.

Greenhouse + Cultivator is fine because there is no input overlap. Greenhouse + Agroponics is bad because the greenhouse is lossy wrt waste.