Biosphere 2

January 5, 2014

About 23 years ago I asked my students to summarize a Globe and Mail article on a fascinating space colonization experiment in the Arizona desert called Biosphere 2, in which 8 volunteers were to be sealed inside a giant Buckminster Fuller-type structure for two years, from 1991 to 1993. Could they be completely self-sufficient? It contained enough land under glass for the inhabitants to grow or create all their own food, air and water--in short, everything they needed. It was entirely sealed off from the outside world, just as a space colony would be. I'd always wanted to see it, and today, along with Leah and our friends, Barb and Jeff, I finally did. 

The place is quite large, so I couldn't photograph the whole thing from my vantage point; here's an aerial view (Photo from Jane Poynter's 'Life in the Biosphere 2', a TED talk, and worth a watch. Jane was one of the eight volunteers sealed inside):

Aerial View of Biosphere 2

The glassed area at the top, bookended by two pyramid-like greenhouses, comprises the various biomes, including a rainforest, an ocean, a mangrove swamp, and a desert. Just below the biomes structure, in the non-greenhouse building with what looks like a minaret in the center, was the living area for the Biospherians. It includes individual living quarters for the 8 volunteers, a communal kitchen and dining room, as well as offices, labs, and conference rooms. Attached to the living area is the tiered set of greenhouses that covers the 1/2 acre garden where all the food was grown. The bottom round white dome is, I believe, one of the two 'lungs' that equalized inside atmospheric pressure with the outside pressure back when Biosphere was sealed (today it is not).

Approaching from Visitor's Center

Living quarters, lower level. You can just see the spiral staircase to the upper level bedroom. It's hiding behind the white pillar. Each person had a two-level private apartment.

The communal dining room, with our tour group seated around the table, and our guide standing. Leah claims Biosphere looks like the set from Lost!

Kitchen viewed from dining room table

Kitchen viewed from side hallway

Our guide, Claudio, mock-chatting with one of the volunteers sealed inside--through a phone and glass window, jsut as in a prison. That's how Biospherians visited with family and friends during their two years inside.

This is the Ocean, one of 5 or 6 representative biomes. Some of the others are a desert, a mangrove swamp, and a rain forest.

This is part of the desert biome.

Another part of the desert biome

The rain forest biome, a huge oxygen producer for the Biospherians. Our friends, Jeff and Barb (center), are thin, but not quite that thin. The vertical stretching is caused by my wide angle lens. Tried to capture the vertical size of the rainforest...but failed. It's 90 ft tall.

This is part of the basement. The entire Biosphere rests upon a gigantic basement, where all the pumps and mechanicals reside. If you follow the sign (above) you come to... 

...this: the tunnel to the South Lung--pictured below:

South lung

This is the first building I've heard of that needs a lung--but Biosphere 2 was originally built to be a completely sealed structure, so it needed to expand and contract to equalize the inside and outside atmospheric pressures. The black ceiling material is a very thick, rubbery membrane. It expanded upward when the Biosphere atmosphere heated up and expanded during the day. The expansion forced air through the long tunnel (previous photo) and caused the membrane to rise. The reverse happened at night when the atmosphere cooled and contracted, and air traveled out of the lung back into the Biosphere 2. The round metal disc with legs is attached to the membrane, and prevented it from rising too far or falling too low. 

You might think, as I did, that Biosphere 2 was a NASA or US government-funded experiment--but you'd be wrong; it was built with $150-200 million dollars of a Texas oil billionaire's money. It is an engineering marvel, and is now operated by the University of Arizona for various on-going experiments in ecology. It is a microcosm of earth (Biosphere 1), but unlike earth, ecological variables like rainfall, temperature, etc. can be controlled, hence its suitability for science.

Soooo, did the 8 volunteers manage to survive totally sealed off from the rest of the world for two years? Well, sort of...the experiment failed in some ways, succeeded in others. Just google 'biosphere 2' and/or watch Jane Poynter's video (link near the top of this post). (Note: I tried to link to an article on Biosphere 2, but was unable to get enough signal to make it work.)

Worth a visit if you're ever in Tucson, Arizona.