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Astragen(s)
Technology > Application > Envirotech
Technology > Technology Type or Material > Gengineering
Technology > Technology Levels > High Tech / Hitech
Technology > Technology Type or Material > Organic/Biotech
Technology > Technology Type or Material > Gengineering
Technology > Technology Levels > High Tech / Hitech
Technology > Technology Type or Material > Organic/Biotech
Space-adapted lifeforms | |
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| This Yggdrasil Bush completely covers the asteroid it is growing on, and provides a habitable environment beneath its canopy; a visiting spacecraft can be seen docked to a pylon which extends beyond the outer skin | |
Astragens are nonsentient, generally immobile lifeforms, plant- or fungal-based, neogen, or xenobiont organisms which have evolved or been designed to survive in space at a given orbital zone and radiation level. The term is derived from 'astra' (star) and 'genus' (life form).
Many astragen variants have been utilised by Terragens in the construction and maintenance of space habitats, often forming a significant part of the habitat's infrastructure and life-support system. Examples include Dyson Trees, AmatFruit, GreenBubbles, OxyFruit, HydroFruit, and LifeFruit.
In general, vacuum-tolerant organisms which are capable of photosynthesis are known as Vacuum Flora. However not all examples of vacuum-tolerant astragens are photosynthetic, and some are derived from fungal templates, or xenobiont fungus-analogs (including some which have evolved naturally in space).
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| An extended and a contracted cosmoamoeba gigas lagoonensis exchange silicoid information packets in the Trifid Nebula | |
Xenobiont astragens also include the various species of space amoeba, which may themselves have been designed or modified by ancient and/or extinct xenosophonts.
Related Articles
- AmatFruit
- Cosmoamoeba, Giant Space Amoeba
- Deepwood
- Greenbubbles (Space Canopies)
- HydroFruit - Text by John B
Astragen capable of producing purified water from contact with oxygen and hydrogen bearing materials. Often used in Oort-belt dispersals, in which case the organism will occasionally be designed to exude ice particulates. - LifeFruit - Text by John B
Generates ATP (adenosine triphosphate, a basic biologic energy storage molecule), but is one of the more power-hungry forms of astragen. LifeFruit typically requires earth-type solar energy levels. - Orwoods (Dyson Trees)
- OxyFruit
- Vacuum Flora and Gardens
- Yggdrasil Bush, Yggy
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Development Notes
Text by John B
Initially published on 31 December 2007.
Initially published on 31 December 2007.
