The Original Missions

My favorite part of The Biosphere has always been the human living experiments done and how the place has changed since then. The Biosphere 2 was originally designed to see whether or not living in space is possible in an enclosed area where nothing goes in or out of the system.

The first experiment took place between September 1991 and 1993 and ran into two of the biggesr problems an experiment of this sort can have: food and oxygen levels. Making a perfect ecosystem with only the animals and insects chosen in the environment is next to impossible and in the four years it took to build The Biosphere, I wasn't surprised when I was told that many ants and cockroaches had gotten into the building and proceeded to take over all the insect species cafefully chosen by the scientists and ate some of the crops entirely. Because of this, there were some food shortages (although the Biospherians were never without food) although reports say that the second year produced over a ton more food and throughout both years, the inhabitants were perfectly healthy and their diets led to a lowering of blood cholesterol and blood pressure and an enhancement of the immune system. They lost an average of 16% of their pre-entry body weight before stabilizing and regaining some weight during their second year.

There are several reasons for the drop in oxygen levels. The most ironic one I think, is due to the lack of sunlight, the plants could not photosynthesize as quickly as the people were respirating. Arizona is known for 300 days of sunlight every year and the two years that the Biospherians were in there were the two cloudiest years that Arizona has had in recent history. Other reasons for the drop in oxygen levels include the fact that carbon dioxide was reacitng with the exposed concrete in The Biosphere froming calcium carbonate, sequestering both carbon and oxygen.

Other issues included overstocked fish dying and clogging filtration systems, extra condensation making the desert biome too wet, morning glories overrunning the rainforest and blocking other plants, and an injury that could not be treated in house and led to one of the inhabitants briefly leaving to get stitches in her finger. There was also criticism when it was revealed that extra oxygen was pumped into the system to make up for the imbalance in the system.

The second mission started in 1994 and although there were many changes made (they covered all exposed concrete for example) and plenty of food, several issues with the people in charge led to a premature end after only six months.