airlocks
Spacecraft transition rooms
Airlocks are chambers with two airtight doors that allow passage between environments with different pressures or atmospheres—as on spacecraft or submarines—without exposing either environment to the other.
Only one door opens at a time.
The term extends to any trapped air bubble that blocks flow in a pipe or system: There's an airlock in the fuel line.
Reduction of pressure
- hatchOpening in deck or floor
- EVAActivity outside spacecraft
- spacewalkVenturing outside a spacecraft
- dockingConnecting to a port
pressurization · capsule · module · astronaut · ISS · shuttle · seal · chamber
Force upon contact
- hullOuter covering or frame
- divingEntering water deliberately
- compartmentEnclosed subdivision of space
- hatchOpening in deck or floor
watertight · submersible · torpedo tube · escape · flooding · ballast · seal · chamber
Particle-free manufacturing space
- contaminationIntroduction of impurities
- biosafetyProtection from biological hazards
- laboratoryFacility for scientific investigation
- sterileFree from microorganisms
antechamber · dust control · semiconductor · pharmaceutical · pressurized · filtration · gowning · decontamination
Imposing entrance or gate
- starshipFictional interstellar vessel
- 2001Twenty-first century's opening year
- jettisonDeliberately discard, especially cargo
- dramaticStrikingly expressive or sudden
explosive decompression · space opera · sci-fi · blast door · emergency · survival · thriller · danger
decompression
Reduction of pressure
docking · pressurization · capsule · module · astronaut · ISS · shuttle · seal · chamber · vacuum
pressure
Force upon contact
- hullOuter covering or frame
- divingEntering water deliberately
- compartmentEnclosed subdivision of space
hatch · watertight · submersible · torpedo tube · escape · flooding · ballast · seal · chamber · divers
cleanroom
Particle-free manufacturing space
- contaminationIntroduction of impurities
- biosafetyProtection from biological hazards
- laboratoryFacility for scientific investigation
sterile · antechamber · dust control · semiconductor · pharmaceutical · pressurized · filtration · gowning · decontamination · buffer zone
portal
Imposing entrance or gate
- starshipFictional interstellar vessel
- 2001Twenty-first century's opening year
- jettisonDeliberately discard, especially cargo
dramatic · explosive decompression · space opera · sci-fi · blast door · emergency · survival · thriller · danger · breach
- generation shipscolonists, descendants, life support, cryo chamber, hull
- space fictionscience fiction, spaceship, sci-fi, astronaut, space adventure
- marine technologysubmarines, submersibles, ROVs, underwater drones, diving equipment
- submarinessub, subs, torpedo, submarines, hull
- preserving suppliesmason jar, canning lids, pressure canner, canning funnel, canning pot
- space coloniesmoon base, lunar colony, lunar base, space station, space habitat
airlocksbreaches
Breaks or violations
hull breaches · open ports · ruptures · open-air spaces · vents