Life support was a system that made the interior of a starship or other vehicle capable of supporting life. Ships like the TIE/LN starfighter did not have this system, so the pilot's suit had to have it. However, the X-wing starfighters had life support. Most ship-based life-support systems could only operate for a few hours or so before needing to be recharged. Gax was one of the many corporations that produced such systems. Life support systems utilized technology that allowed it to produce necessary chemicals and gases needed to sustain on-board life such as oxygen and nitrogen; it also filtered out toxic gases and chemicals such as carbon dioxide and ammonia.