The Challenge of Recreating Earth

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Still, some intrepid humans have striven to do just that. The most famous attempt is Biosphere 2, a 3.14 acre Earth-system research complex located just outside of Tucson, Arizona. Constructed in the early 1990s as a materially closed ecological system that could simulate future space habitats, this Earth-in-a-bottle includes replica biomes from across the planet, including a rainforest, a savannah, a fog desert, an ocean, and a mangrove swamp. The original design also included an agricultural system and a human habitat. Heated and powered by the sun’s radiation, with water recycled through internal plumbing, Biosphere 2 remains to this day an outstanding engineering feat and one of the most ambitious ecological experiments ever conceived.

To determine whether human life can be sustained in a closed habitat, two manned missions were carried out inside the complex in the early 90s. Both were a spectacular fiasco.

“Because there wasn’t a scientific community behind this, it exploded in their faces,” Peter Troch, the current director of science for Biosphere 2, told me over the phone.

During Mission 1, which ran from 1991 to 1993, the eight Biosphere 2 inhabitants reported continual hunger. CO2 levels within the habitat fluctuated wildly, most vertebrate life and all pollinating insects died, cockroach and ant populations exploded. Filtration systems clogged, unanticipated condensation dampened the desert, and morning glories took over the rainforest, choking out other plant life.

Worst of all for the humans, the oxygen levels inside the facility fell steadily over the first 16 months. The reason was unclear at the time, but researchers have since presented evidence that O2 was rapidly consumed by soil microorganisms. By January of 1993, oxygen levels had fallen to under 15 percent—equivalent to those found at an elevation of 13,000 feet. Since the inhabitants were starting to suffer from sleep apnea and fatigue, the management group was forced to intervene and artificially boost oxygen levels. The crew managed to eke it out another 9 months.

[link to motherboard.vice.com]

Interesting read

Last Edited by Face Palmer on 05/07/2015 08:09 AM