Biosphere 2

  Do you remember the Biosphere project? In 1984 Space Biospheres Ventures began building an glass enclosed, self-sufficient system to research space colonization.  In 1991 eight people were sealed in the system with the mission of surviving for two years with everything produced inside the Biosphere.  They studied interactions with life systems as well as using closed biospheres in space colonization.The system had five simulated biomes: rain forest, ocean, mangrove wetland, savannah, and fog desert.  It also had an agricultural system and a human habitat. The group did survive the two years, but not without its problems.  They were not able to produce enough food, and the system lost oxygen due to carbon dioxide being taken up by the cement.  This caused the oxygen levels to drop to 14%, which made for tough living.  Oxygen had to be pumped in, thus keeping the completely self sustaining goal from being realized.  None the less, lots of good research was achieved.  A second mission was started, but only lasted six months.  This mission was ended due to management and ownership issues.  Today, the Biosphere is run as an Earth systems research center, and is no longer a closed system.

You can get more information here:Biosphere 2

The Biosphere from the outside.

More sections of the Biosphere.

The ocean.  You can see the beach and part of the coral reef.

This was the orchard, where some fruit was grown during the missions.

A closer view of the beach.  An interesting problem that they had on the first mission was that they accidentally introduce octopus while establishing the reef.  The octopus ended up eating the fish during the night.

Top of the rain forest.

Rain forest floor.

The desert.

The "Technosphere" or basement where all of the mechanical and electrical systems are.

The mangrove biome.

This is what is left of the Savannah.

The Lung

More lung.  This system expands and contracts with the outside atmospheric pressure to prevent windows from being blown out.