October 25, 2010 – Biosphere 2

Imagine being sealed into a huge building with seven other people for almost 2 years.  In this building you have to make sure that all of your ecosystems are doing well because those systems supply your air and water.  Then there are the gardens and animals for food.  And all the mechanics…  WOW!!

That was part of Biosphere 2.    Today it is still in use by various scientific organizations and the University of Arizona.

Here is more info:

http://www.b2science.org/b2/campus-guidetour.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

The Biosphere 2 from the road:

The Greenhouse:

 

The living quarters, farm, and command center:

The Oceans Area…this “ocean” was modeled after the Caribbean Sea and at its beginning was a beautiful clear blue:

  

How about this fish?  Yes, he is real!

The Desert Area:

 

   The Rainforest Area:

There are acres of passageways underneath the biosphere that contain all the systems needed to run it:

This was one of the sealed doors to the outside.  When the complex was leak tested before the missions, it was found to be better sealed than the space shuttle – WOW!:

Going to the lung:

Inside the lung:

Now this was fascinating.  Do you see the disk with the legs above?   Attached to that is a rubber membrane.   As the sun heats up the biosphere, the pressure increases and the lung fills up.  This huge disk raises.   As night falls and the pressure decreases, the disk comes down.   This area is open to all the tunnels and passages through out the complex so the atmosphere pressure remains even.  (Not sure I explain that correctly…but it is amazing to watch.)

Around the lung is a passageway with negative pressure.  You can see the black membrane…

Coming out of the passageway:

The spare lung:

The generator buildings:

 

The farm area where they grew their food and tended to the animals:

The Command Area – where they monitored all the systems within the biosphere:

We took the tour and then went back to some of the exhibits.  Fascinating!!

I had visions of the movie “Space Odyssey” as we walked thru all the areas.  WOW!!

There were many stories on the Biosphere 2 – pros and cons – but in the end, the scientists considered it successful because of all they learned.

By the way…where is Biosphere 1??