Oxidane
Perhaps the most important compound in the galaxy, and yet the one most often taken for granted, is a substance known by chemists as dihydrogen oxide, by space engineers as oxidane, and by just about everyone else as water. Found at least in some small quantity on almost every rocky planet, its availability in liquid form is essential to sustain Human life, as well as the vast majority of life forms encountered in the galaxy thus far.
Though there have been exceptions, almost every higher form of non-Terran life that Humans have encountered thus far also requires liquid water to exist. And in many of those exceptions, it has been found that the organism essentially makes its own water by chemically converting some other compound. An example is the Sulfur Leech, which thrives in pools of pure sulfuric acid, but which metabolizes that acid into water and oxygen (and sulfur dioxide which it emits as a waste product).
Alternate Names
Dihydrogen Oxide, Water
Freezing Point
273.15K
Boiling Point
373.15K
Density
liquid form: ~1.0g/cm3
solid form: ~0.9g/cm3
Interstellar ships that are capable of atmospheric operations almost always have "scoops" installed to allow them to skim liquid water from the surface of lakes, seas, or other large bodies of water. These scoops then feed the gathered materials into onboard refinery equipment that purifies and then electrolyzes the water, resulting in both pure hydrogen fuel and breathable oxygen for pressurization tanks. Scoops and refineries can also be used to collect material from the upper atmospheres of gas giants, but this does not provide the additional benefit of oxygen collection.
Requirement for Life
It is common knowledge among Humanity that water is a basic necessity for life. When selecting sites for colonization, availability of a sustainable water supply is one of the Cardinal Conditions. As long as there is water - preferably in liquid form, but water ice can be easily melted as well - desalination and other purification technologies will ensure it is safe for Humans to consume. Water is also required for Human agriculture. In the typical early-stage colony, agriculture will consume more water than the inhabitants do directly.Though there have been exceptions, almost every higher form of non-Terran life that Humans have encountered thus far also requires liquid water to exist. And in many of those exceptions, it has been found that the organism essentially makes its own water by chemically converting some other compound. An example is the Sulfur Leech, which thrives in pools of pure sulfuric acid, but which metabolizes that acid into water and oxygen (and sulfur dioxide which it emits as a waste product).
Oxidane
solid form: ~0.9g/cm3
A Spacer's Most Critical Need
Those who live and work in interstellar space rely on water for a much different purpose: it is a source of the hydrogen needed to fuel the Jump Drives of interstellar ships, as well as the standard power plants of interstellar and intra-system ships. The engineers who carefully tend these systems rarely use the term "water", however; preferring instead the more scientific sounding "oxidane".Interstellar ships that are capable of atmospheric operations almost always have "scoops" installed to allow them to skim liquid water from the surface of lakes, seas, or other large bodies of water. These scoops then feed the gathered materials into onboard refinery equipment that purifies and then electrolyzes the water, resulting in both pure hydrogen fuel and breathable oxygen for pressurization tanks. Scoops and refineries can also be used to collect material from the upper atmospheres of gas giants, but this does not provide the additional benefit of oxygen collection.
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