Home▸Space & Astronomy▸Apollo 13 CO2 Crisis: The Mailbox Scrubber Fix

Apollo 13 CO2 Crisis: The Mailbox Scrubber Fix (2D)

Relive the Apollo 13 carbon-dioxide crisis in 2D: watch cabin CO2 partial pressure integrated live from real crew respiration vs. lithium-hydroxide scrubber chemistry, then toggle the 'mailbox' adapter and see the genuinely computed change in time-to-danger.

Space & Astronomy2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

When Apollo 13's oxygen tank exploded, three astronauts had to squeeze into a Lunar Module life-support system built for two — and its carbon-dioxide scrubbers began to run out. This 2D companion simulation integrates the same real gas-buildup mass balance as the 3D version: CO2 partial pressure climbs from crew respiration via the ideal gas law while lithium-hydroxide canisters absorb it against a fixed stoichiometric capacity, and a live toggle for the historic square-peg-round-hole "mailbox" adapter shows the genuinely computed difference it makes to how long the crew had before reaching dangerous CO2 levels.

⚙ Under the hood

In this simulation, you control the 'mailbox' adapter to fix CO2 levels in the Apollo 13 Lunar Module cabin as astronauts face life-support crisis.

apollo-13life-supportco2-scrubberspace-historyeclssnasa

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install