Schellhase 2018-2019 Gulf Coast and Southwest Trip: 6 Mar 2019

6 Mar 2019

This morning we drove north of Tucson about 40 miles to the Biosphere 2 facility.

In simple terms, the Biosphere 2 was originally designed as a completely closed ecological system to study the viability of human life colonizing outer space. It is a huge and complex research facility. It is self-contained and sealed air tight. The experiments involved all the things required for sustaining life, like air, carbon dioxide, food, water, growing all sorts of plants, and the effects of those things working together (or not).

To do this they created seven 'biomes': a 20,000 sq ft rain forest; a 9,100 sq ft ocean complete with a coral reef and beach; a 4,800 sq ft mangrove wetlands; a 14,000 sq ft savannah grassland; a 15,000 sq ft fog desert like what is in California; and two 27,000 sq ft agricultural biomes to grow food for the 'biospherians'. Biosphere 2 also includes living quarters for the biospherians, laboratories, and other support areas.

Biosphere 2 was built between 1987 and 1991 by Space Biosphere Ventures, a private conglomerate. It's mission was a two-year closure experiment with a crew of eight humans "biospherians". It was only used twice for it's intended purpose. Once for two years 1991-1993, and once from March to September 1994. They ran into a plethora of problems with these experiments for various reasons. During the second experiment the company actually dissolved. Columbia University took it over in 1995 and used it to run experiments until 2003. In 2007 the University of Arizona in 2007 used it and then in 2011 took full ownership.

So now Biosphere 2 is used by the University of Arizona to conduct experiments relating to our eco systems. They offer 1-1/2 hour tours which is what we are on today. After entering and paying a nominal fee, we had to walk down to where the Biosphere 2 is.

They have a conference center here along with a cafe and lodging facilities.

The Biosphere 2 facility. It is an amazing complex.

Some solar experiments on the walk down to the tour.

Different types of solar panels being tested

The viewing window where visitors or relatives could see the eight biospherians
while they lived in the Biosphere 2 for two years

A picture of the eight biospherians from 1991-1993

This is the main entrance door, which is an air interlock
since the whole facility has to remain completely air-tight sealed.

Now we are inside. We waited about 30 minutes for the movie to start.

In the mean time we looked over some displays on two floors and also got to see where the biospherians lived while they were inside for two years.

Each biospherian had their own 'apartment' space

There are many different laboratories including this one for the study of marine life

Their own medical facility where doctors kept frequent tabs on the health of the biospherians

If you've seen the movie 'Martian' where Matt Damon was marooned on Mars and had to figure out how to grow food and live for a long time before her could be rescued. This is similar to what they are studying here.

What a Martian biosphere might look like on the surface of the planet

This is the rain forest biome, complete with the plants and insects like ants that you would find in a rain forest. It extends 90 feet in the air (in the dome):

Bamboo growing

The ocean biome, complete with beach, coral reef, waves, etc

The beach area

The coral reef

The savannah grasslands transitional biome:

The fog desert biome:

Cactus

It's amazing the technology behind all of this. The temperatures, humidity, carbon monoxide levels, oxygen levels, soil conditions, etc are all closely monitored. To do this there are tens of thousands of probes and monitor devices all fed back to computer systems that make adjustments to the atmosphere.