Blue View - Biosphere 2

Biosphere 2 - An exciting concept

Breaking News: After Blue’s incoming triage, the Ford dealer south of Sedona has moved him from the emergency room to the ICU, where he’ll be ensconced for a couple more weeks, waiting in the queue for the “heavy line diesel mechanic” to get to him. He apparently has a major engine problem, and as Marcie mentioned in her last blog, we need to come up with a new plan. She’ll talk more about that in her next blog, but in the meantime, without stealing her thunder, I want to talk about a place we’ve been meaning to visit for a long time...

Poor Blue boarding the ambulance

Biosphere 2

Futuristic Biosphere 2

In case you were unaware, the Biosphere 2 is a 3.14 acre, sealed ecological ‘mini-world’ that was built with the lofty goal of demonstrating that earth’s ecosystems could be replicated and could  support humans in other parts of the universe. The structure included living quarters, a 0.6 acre agricultural area to grow food, a rain forest, and several other ecological zones: an ocean coral reef system, a savanna, a coastal fog area and others. 

The concept for Biosphere 2 began with ecologist John Allen and the other residents of the New Mexico ranch Synergia. They’ve been described as a cult that spent their time on experimental theater, furniture making and farming, but they must have had some credibility, because they gained the backing of Ed Bass, a wealthy Texan. Together, they formed the company Space Biospheres Ventures, and began planning Biosphere 2 in 1984 (Biosphere 1 is the Earth, BTW). The plan called for 3,800 species of plants and animals to be included in the structure. Waste water would be filtered and purified by pumping it through the ground soil where microbes would digest contaminants. The rain forest would use photosynthesis to produce oxygen. The crew members would produce their own food: vegetables, grains and root crops from plants grown in soil beds; meat, eggs, and milk from domestic animals; and fish (tilapia) raised in a rice pond aquaculture system. It was an exciting concept.

Construction began in 1987, and in 1991 the construction was completed. Eight crew members, following a big send-off party, walked into the structure, sealed the air-locks, and spent the next two years and twenty minutes inside. (Actually, one Biospherian sliced off the end of her finger in a rice-threshing machine and left for a few hours to get medical attention... but other than that, all eight spent the entire two years inside). 

Layout of Biosphere 2

Problems.

Those two years weren’t without problems:

• Oxygen. The biggest problem was with the oxygen levels, which were inexplicably dropping. By the eighteenth month, the oxygen level had dropped until the crew felt as if they were living at somewhere between 14,000 and 17,000 feet, and the managers were forced to pump supplemental oxygen into the structure. Obviously, the experiment couldn’t be called a success if oxygen had to be supplied to keep the crew alive. Later analysis discovered the cause... dropping CO2 levels, which reduced the amount of oxygen that could be produced by photosynthesis. Researchers later discovered that the reason for this drop in CO2 was due to the concrete used in the structure. The CO2 in the air was reacting with the exposed concrete walls to form calcium carbonate in a process called carbonatation, causing the reduction in CO2. All the exposed concrete was later covered with an impermeable coating which greatly reduced the problem.

• Food. Another issue was with the food production. It was an El Niño year, and the initial few months were overcast, resulting in stunted, lower yield crops. The crew had to break into their emergency ration stash - not a good sign so close to the start of the experiment. Crop yields improved with time, but food production was a continual challenge. The crew grew their own coffee, but the yields were so small that the Biospherians could only have a cuppa about every two weeks... yikes! The chickens were intended to be a continuing source of eggs, but the crew couldn’t afford to use their limited amount of food to feed the chickens, so they were slaughtered and eaten. Likewise, the pigs were competing for the limited available food, and met the same fate.

• Pollinators. It’s not clear why, but all the pollinators died. Hummingbirds, bees and other insects that typically pollinate plants all became extinct in the Biosphere 2, leaving the crops unpollinated.

• Pests. While the pollinators were dying, some of the other less desirable critters were thriving. Broad mites and nematode worms plagued the crops. One ant species, the longhorn crazy ant, was inadvertently introduced and overran the other species. And cockroaches, of course, thrived and ran rampant. Many plant types didn’t survive, but bind weed thrived, and the crew had to expend a large portion of each day as well as a lot of calories to keep it from strangling the other rain forest plants. 

• Health. The crew were continually hungry, and due to the low calorie, high nutrient diet, all lost weight during the experiment - an average of 16% of their body weight. Their general health did not seem to suffer, however... most recorded lower blood pressures, reduced cholesterol, and enhanced immune systems.

• Crew Dissension. Disagreements over project decisions caused the crew members to split into two groups. They still performed mission functions together but avoided each other, not unlike the tribes in the classic Lord of the Flies. 

Huge greenhouses… home of the tropical rain forest

Afterwards

The original goal was for the crew to spend two years in the Biosphere, then be replaced by rotating crews and scientists for, perhaps, the next 100 years. Instead, the problems were too great, and at the end of their two years inside, the air-locks were opened and the crew emerged to a battery of reporters, hungry, irritable and disappointed. There was a lot of discussion about the problems, what the causes might be, whether they could be fixed, and, if so, whether there could and should be a repeat of the experiment. Much was learned from the first undertaking, and when most of the problems were identified and presumably solved, it was decided to repeat the experiment with a new crew. 

The second mission was to be only ten months long, and began in March of 1994 with seven crew members. From the start, they were much more successful at food production and the oxygen problem seemed solved. Before the mission was even a month old, however, dissension occurred between crew, the on-site management outside, and Biosphere 2’s owners resulting in the managers being fired and escorted off the property by US Federal Marshals. The mission leader inside also resigned and left. Shortly after, there were so many rumors being generated about the project that two members of the original crew, supposedly fearing for the safety of the second crew, snuck into the compound in the dark of night. They opened the doors and air-locks and broke several windows, effectively ending the second experiment. Two months after that, Space Biosphere Ventures was dissolved as a company.

In 1995, management was transferred to Columbia University, along with an option to buy it for $1 million anytime in the next 20 years. They put it under firm scientific control and transformed it into a teaching and research tool. For reasons that aren’t clear to me, that didn’t work out, and Biosphere 2 changed hands once again. Finally, in 2007, the University of Arizona took ownership using a combination of donations and endowments. Today, there are many ongoing research projects, and the facility is open to visitors.

Success or Failure?

So, was the experiment a success or a failure? It depends on who you ask. Much of the scientific community thought it was more of a reality show than a scientific experiment, a $200 million, New Age, micro-earth experiment with little to show for it in the way of scientific knowledge. Others argue that even though the goals weren’t met, much technical knowledge was gained by studying what worked and what didn’t. Dozens of research papers have been written discussing the technical lessons, and how to apply these lessons to future space exploration. 

My opinion, for what little it’s worth, is that the experiment was very costly and certainly didn’t meet its goals, but it wasn’t a failure. It’s easy to point out all the things that didn’t work, but there was much about the planning and design that was ingenious, well thought out and successful. Conversely, of the things that didn’t work as expected, perhaps much could have been predicted or prevented if the right experts were found, but there were several problems no one could have predicted... and pondering these will help in future endeavors. It’s also an example of how important good leadership and management is. Finally, I think it shows that despite our intellectual arrogance, we are still very naive and ignorant when it comes to understanding the complexity and interactions of the immense number of biomes that exist on Biosphere 1... Earth.

See you next week.