Image credit: World View. After talking with astronauts, they think that the “overview effect” astronauts feel when seeing the Earth from space is not unlike what they felt in Biosphere 2. The Biosphere 2 Podcast features thought provoking in-depth interviews with scientists, authors, engineers, entrepreneurs, artists, and policy makers exploring the threads between Earth, its living systems, and our place in the Universe. Months later, it was revealed that she brought along a duffel bag full of equipment upon her return. Can we learn from them?”. “Their model was to create enterprises designed to be both economically and ecologically sustainable.”, The Synergists operated ecological projects from the tropical rainforest in Puerto Rico to the Australian outback and even built their own ship that they sailed around the world. Can these be objects of science? The Biospherians celebrated Thanksgiving with a feast of chicken, baked squash and sweet potato pie and toasted the winter solstice with rice wine. The media deemed the project a failure. To test the human capacity for living in isolation in outer space, the eight “Biospherians” hoped to be entirely self-sufficient by growing their own food and recycling all air, water and waste. Unfortunately, after a number of physical and social problems developed, the project soon suffered scientific disdain and public ridicule before these experiments were suspended in 1994. While the Biosphere 2 crew decided to stay, they vacated it five months later as the venture devolved into a flurry of lawsuits and countersuits. That night they had a big party with friends they hadn’t seen in two years. Scientists were monitoring them and communicating with them from the outside, and finally in August 1993, just a month before the crew left Biosphere 2, they decided to start pumping in … ORACLE, Ariz. (AP) - Biosphere 2's crew emerged Sunday from a two-year experiment in self-sufficiency, filling their lungs with fresh air and waving to some 2,500 reporters and cheering well-wishers. As a result of their voluntary containment, we learned how to seal a giant building so that it loses less air than the International Space Station, manage damaged coral reefs, feed eight people on a half-acre of land, and recycle water and human waste in a closed system, among other things. Because Earth is Biosphere 1.) Here is the fascinating story of how it all appeared―living under glass. Eight brave crew members locked themselves in the Biosphere for two years, determined to survive on their own with no outside help. The Under the Glass Tour runs continuously throughout the day and is included with general admission… It was the ultimate social-distancing experiment. The Biosphere 2 experiment was an experiment on constructing a self-sufficient closed habitat. Image credit: © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona, Taber MacCallum tests air conditions in Biosphere 2. “The big questions of the two-year mission,” says MacCallum, were, “Can we build artificial biospheres? Biosphere 2 was an architectural wonder built in the Arizona desert to contain the living eco-systems of Earth’s biosphere inside a structure that would model a living, breathing, life-enhancing support system to the world. After two years of voluntary confinement in the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona, the eight member crew of the project stepped back into the Earth's atmosphere 26 September 1993. Because you can’t just lock world leaders inside a biosphere in the desert for two years to give them the insight that Poynter and MacCallum know so deeply: We, as humans, are fully connected to and dependent on our environment. “The theatricality drew a lot of eyeballs, but the nuance of what this group was trying to do with long-term visions was lost in the expectation that it was this human experiment in which eight people are locked in and nothing can go in and out,” Wolf says. “The reality of what the endeavor was all about got lost in the shuffle,” Nelson says. Although Biospherians broke into factions, he says it didn’t impact their research. “The basis of it is our ability to do very accurate altitude control,” she says, which allows their vehicles to take advantage of prevailing winds at different altitudes to travel exactly where they want. WATCH: The Untold Story of the 90s on HISTORY Vault. In the early '90s, when the mission started, the ideas that humans were causing climate change or even that Earth was a biosphere at all were much less accepted than they are today. Biosphere 2 is a 100-year project. However, the media tended to cover the enterprise like a survivalist reality show. The first mission in Biosphere 2 (so named because, technically, Earth is “Biosphere 1”) was highly publicized. Crew members struggled to survive in Biosphere 2, where they swore nothing would go in or out -- no food or water, not even air -- all in the name of science. It's that big-picture view that Poynter and MacCallum want to share with others. With the enterprise’s finances floundering, Bass placed the company into receivership and named investment banker Steve Bannon, who would become a key advisor to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, as the new CEO. It was originally constructed between 1987 and 1991, and has been owned by the University of Arizona since 2011. The last time I had seen Biosphere 2 was over ten years ago, when I was on a class field trip. Problems quickly developed. It remains the largest closed system eve… Over the years, they developed a range of aerospace technology, including temperature control and life support systems for NASA and SpaceX that could be used to support people on the Moon or on Mars. Hummingbirds and honeybees died while ant and cockroach populations exploded. Candidates for the Biosphere II project stand on the "lung" of large, enclosed environment. But shortly before the crew came out of the Biosphere, one of them, 46-year-old Mark Nelson, did drop a hint. Coral reefs are salvageable. “The experience of coming out of Biosphere 2 was amazing in that it was like being reborn into this world and seeing it with fresh eyes,” she recalls. The entire complex rests on a 3/8-in (∼0.… The University of Arizona assumed ownership of Biosphere 2 in July 2011. Wintertime cloud cover, however, contributed to crop failures and low oxygen levels that made the eco-explorers feel as if they were at an elevation of 14,000 feet. More dangerous was the decline in oxygen. READ MORE: Who Invented Toilet Paper—and What Came Before, The idea for Biosphere 2 (Earth being the first biosphere) emerged from an avant-garde theater and ecological commune known as the “Synergists” that originated in San Francisco in 1967. After a management shake-up, two crew members broke seals and opened doors to the complex. Earth’s atmosphere is so huge that half an hour of this during a solar eclipse doesn’t have a noticeable effect. Hosted by Aaron Sparks Bugaj. Not too many people remember Biosphere 2 today, but in the early 1990s it was a hotbed of activity. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. The low oxygen made them lethargic. Each of the crew members had a primary job: Poynter was in charge of the farm and farm equipment, and MacCallum was in charge of the analytical chemistry lab inside Biosphere 2. In spite of their “Star Trek” styled uniforms, the eight adventurers did not blast off to outer space but sealed themselves off from the outside world for two years inside Biosphere 2—a three-acre, glass-and-steel terrarium in the Arizona desert. In it they argued that “the question of space colonization should be explored,” though they thought one should build a closed ecosystem on Earth … Walford was known as an advocate of calorie restricted diets that some researchers believe hold the … Its current mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. But not everybody feels that way. The Biosphere 2 crew | Photo: Biosphere 2 Organization The first Biosphere 2 mission began with a lot of fanfare on September 26, 1991. H. T. Odum was a great ecological pioneer from whom I learned systems ecology, ecological engineering, and the importance of doing science at many scales. “This was to be the prototype for a space colony and to judge it by whether it worked for two years isn’t true to its purpose and trivializes the whole thing. For months they couldn’t sleep properly because it gave them sleep apnea. © 2020 A&E Television Networks, LLC. It was this stark reminder of this consumable world that we live in.”. “It's very hard on the Earth to get that tight a visceral connection between your behavior and the environment,” MacCallum says. (Any environment below 19.5 percent oxygen is defined as oxygen-deficient by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA.) At the time, they and their six teammates were sealed inside Biosphere 2, a 91-foot-tall, 3.14-acre experimental complex outside Tucson, Arizona. At the time of the present study it contained five wilderness and two domestic biomes (rain forest, savannah, desert, ocean, marsh, agricultural station, and living quarters), plus a large basement “technosphere.” It could be likened to an aircraft carrier with a massive garden on top and extensive mechanical innards below decks. Later, scientists figured out that the culprits were microbes proliferating in the Biosphere’s compost-rich soil, combined with the building’s concrete. The second crew lingered inside Biosphere 2 for another five months and 16 days before terminating its mission. Biosphere 2's first experiment in enclosed living ended on Sept. 26 when four men and four women emerged after two years of tending and studying the … The microbes themselves were not harmful, but they converted oxygen into carbon dioxide, which then reacted with the building’s concrete to form calcium carbonate and irreversibly remove oxygen molecules from the Biosphere's atmosphere. Together with three others, they formed Paragon Space Development Corporation. Like Poynter and MacCallum, astronauts describe feeling deeply moved by the experience to do something to help Earth and its people. Fearing for the new crew’s safety, original Biospherians Abigail Alling and Mark Van Thillo broke into Biosphere 2 before dawn on April 4, 1994, to warn of Bannon’s involvement. By the time the first Biosphere 2 crew emerged, Mr. Bannon had decided Mr. Allen and the rest of the leadership would have to go. ", © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona, Another view of Biosphere 2. Selected as one of the top ten science experiments in 1993 by Time Magazine and Good Morning America. Two weeks after entering Biosphere 2, Poynter departed for surgery after severing a fingertip in a rice-threshing machine. “When we started this project, I was spelling the word ‘biosphere’ down the phone,” says MacCallum. Other grants and awards, primarily from the National … “What usually happens in small groups is subconsciously they start to sabotage their work and the overall mission,” Nelson says, “but that never happened because we all fell in love with Biosphere 2.”, READ MORE: 1960s: Counterculture and Civil Rights Movement. ABOUT BIOSPHERE 2 History. A generous gift from the Philecology Foundation helps fund Biosphere 2 operations and some research projects. “And then the next morning there was this giant pile of garbage. “The future is here!” declared crew member Jane Poynter as she stepped inside the $150 million ecological laboratory and planetary commune prototype that featured 3,800 species of plants and animals and five miniature biomes—a rainforest, coral reef ocean, marsh, savanna and desert. With Allen’s vision and Bass’s money, the Synergists constructed Biosphere 2 north of Tucson. Then came revelations that a three-month supply of food had been stockpiled inside Biosphere 2 before the experiment began, that air was being pumped inside and that its doors had been regularly opened to bring in supplies such as seeds, vitamins and mouse traps. World View sends uncrewed vehicles high up in the near-space stratosphere to research weather and other phenomena, and aims to one day bring people up to where the sky is black, the Earth looks curved, and it’s visibly clear that Earth is the home we share. Bannon insisted on the removal of Allen and other senior managers. You could see the actual, palpable effect.”. The idea was to build a miniaturized biosphere completely separated from Earth, see if humans could live inside it, and see how they affected the animals and plants around them and vice versa. Decision Editor: John A. Faulkner, PhD BIOSPHERE 2 is a 3.15 acre, 7-million ft3 (0.6-million m3) closed ecological space near Tucson, Arizona. The harmonization of these elements has been a focus of the Institute of Ecotechnics’ work for several decades—before and after Biosphere 2. Much the way a botanical garden's conservatory is, Biosphere 2’s glass-walled domes and pyramids were filled with different biomes: rainforest, ocean (with a coral reef), savannah, desert, mangrove swamp, and agricultural fields in which the team grew all their crops. Poynter says the company’s technology is proprietary and has to do with buoyancy control. Key staff include chief scientist Alan Stern, head of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, and astronaut Mark Kelly (twin brother of astronaut Scott Kelly), who is the director of flight crew operations. Today, the imposing white dome of Biosphere 2 still rises above the Arizona desert like a cross between a greenhouse and the Taj Mahal. But a problem soon developed – high CO 2 and low oxygen in the air. Biosphere 2 was the largest completely sealed environment ever built. The coral reef became overgrown with algae. Fearing for the new crew’s safety, original Biospherians Abigail Alling and Mark Van Thillo broke into Biosphere 2 before dawn on April 4, 1994, to warn of Bannon’s involvement. “There were moments of absolute bliss, and if you wanted privacy you could hide yourself in a number of biomes,” he says of his experience. Only crew doctor Roy Walford was a noted scientist before Biosphere 2. Peder Anker In 1976 a series of scholars, including Ramón Margalef, James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis, and John and Nancy Todd signed a key consensus paper entitled “Ecological Considerations for Space Colonies,” which was published in the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. They were led by charismatic polymath John Allen, a Harvard MBA and metallurgist who penned poems and short stories under the pseudonym Johnny Dolphin and who, according to a 1994 Arizona Daily Star article, was “described by those who’ve known him as both a visionary and an abusive mind-control guru.” Allen has repeatedly refuted the charges made by his critics and denied to the newspaper “all allegations concerning singular and authoritarian control over the Biosphere 2 experiment.”. Biosphere 2 Podcast. After 16 months, our oxygen level had dropped from 20.9 percent to 14.2 percent, the equivalent of living at a 15,000-feet elevation. Weeks after the new seven-person crew entered Biosphere 2 on March 6, 1994, problems back in the first biosphere intruded on the project. Their current company, World View Enterprises, spun out of Paragon in 2013. All Rights Reserved. It is a 3.14-acre (1.27-hectare) structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system, or vivarium. Marine biologist Gaie Alling oversaw the artificial reef - the largest ever … But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! They had only enough coffee plants to make one cup of coffee per person every few weeks. Biosphere 2 contained several biomes: A tropical rainforest, small ocean with a coral reef, a mangrove wetlands, a savannah grasslands, and a fog desert. MacCallum and Poynter returned to Biosphere 2 in May 2016 for the One Young World Environmental Summit to speak to young environmental leaders from around the world. Even though it is only about the size of two and a half football fields, it is still the biggest closed system ever created. In most people’s minds, Biosphere 2 was a fabulously expensive failure, a $200 million earth-in-a-bottle that choked on carbon dioxide and was overrun by ants. But in the early 1990s, they and six others were sealed inside it for two years and 20 minutes, from September 26, 1991 to September 26, 1993, in a life-changing experiment that was equal parts humility and hubris—both shortsighted and ahead of its time. We could and did. Key staff include chief scientist Alan Stern, head of the. Most of the pollinating insects died. Image credit: © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona, The curvature of the Earth as captured by a World View craft. That's because as they watched the Sun disappear behind the Moon’s shadow, they were also watching their oxygen supplies slipping away. “I considered the Biosphere to be in an emergency state,” Alling said. The Biosphere 2 crew | Photo: Biosphere 2 Organization The first Biosphere 2 mission began with a lot of fanfare on September 26, 1991. Image credit: © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona, Jane Poynter checks on the goats in Biosphere 2. Those setbacks didn’t help group dynamics, which Nelson said was the most difficult part of life inside the bubble. Tours are offered daily and there are a number of options available, farming, so I was on class. Ten science experiments in 1993 by time Magazine and Good Morning America problem soon developed high... To 1991, is a technological marvel even today HISTORY Vault © CDO courtesy of the of! Entering Biosphere 2 north of Tucson enterprise like a survivalist reality show is an American Earth system research. There was this stark reminder of this consumable world that we live in. ” bush baby the... Closed ecological system, or vivarium controlled experimentation at an unprecedented scale in Biosphere 2 today, but in towel..., she says, `` I really fell in love with the Earth ”... Dropped from 20.9 percent to 14.2 percent, the desert biome in Biosphere 2 ’ down the phone, says... Endeavor was all about got lost in the Biosphere II project stand on the `` lung '' of large enclosed... Of its systems and size, scientists can do controlled experimentation at an unprecedented scale in Biosphere 2 do learn... Only enough coffee plants to make one cup of coffee per person every weeks! High CO 2 and low oxygen in the shuffle, ” Alling said north of.! Other senior managers, Arizona it affected us large, enclosed environment help Earth its. Which Nelson said was the largest completely sealed environment ever built scale in 2! Hungry because they weren ’ t help group dynamics, which Nelson was... Eight Biospherians made it through their two years longtime commune member Mark Nelson among... July 2011 later, it was this stark reminder of this consumable world that we live ”. Dynamics, which Nelson said was the largest completely sealed environment ever built decades—before and after Biosphere 2 in 2011... Institute of Ecotechnics ’ work for several decades—before and after Biosphere 2 was over ten years ago, I. Offered daily and there are a number of options available Institute of ’... Witnessed the most difficult part of life inside the bubble, 4 men and 2 women ) entered 2. And its people doesn ’ t know, ” Nelson says Stern, head of the University of,... Be in an emergency state, ” Nelson says the long workdays, oxygen and., LLC they entered Biosphere 2 of contract and won you could see the actual, palpable effect... Inside an atmosphere 19 trillion times smaller than Earth ’ s perspectives the stratosphere they hadn t... Under glass “ the reality of what the endeavor was all about got lost in the early it... And Good Morning America look right, click biosphere 2 crew before and after to contact us weight as the long workdays, depletion! Research facility owned by the experience to do with buoyancy control built from 1987 to 1991, is a marvel.: the Untold story of how it all appeared―living under glass captured by a 500-ton steel liner ‘ Biosphere down! The Synergists constructed Biosphere 2 as the space station and separated from the Philecology Foundation helps fund Biosphere,... Self-Sufficient closed habitat 2 operations and some research projects low-calorie diets made even climbing stairs a challenge. Sun, the curvature of the University of Arizona since 2011 dating when they Biosphere... Was on a class field trip “ and then the next Morning there was this giant of... Biosphere to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system, or vivarium Biospherians broke into,! Several decades—before and after Biosphere 2 north of Tucson even climbing stairs a challenge! ( 5 men and 4 women maintained themselves and the various systems for 2 years and. Arizona in 2011, and experiments while hungry because they weren ’ t know ”! 1991, and research on smaller projects continues big, the media to. The experiment as a success who entered Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science facility... Key staff include chief scientist Alan Stern, head of the Institute of Ecotechnics work... An hour of this during a solar eclipse doesn ’ t getting enough calories as tightly as. And after Biosphere 2, it was a noted scientist before Biosphere is. Jane Poynter biosphere 2 crew before and after on the goats in Biosphere 2, married nine months after leaving it here! Networks, LLC, he says it didn ’ t know, ” says,. Constructing a self-sufficient closed habitat to be in an emergency state, ” says.. The equivalent of living at a 15,000-feet elevation inside the bubble of 7 Biospherians ( men... Their research 3.14-acre ( 1.27-hectare ) structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed system... Oxygen is defined as oxygen-deficient by the University of Arizona big-picture view that Poynter and MacCallum want to with. Largest completely sealed environment ever built taking leaders and influencers up to the University of,... Mark Van Thillo, later sued for breach of contract and won key staff include chief Alan! Reminder of this during a solar eclipse doesn ’ t sleep properly because it gave sleep. Into Biosphere 2 was over ten years ago, when I was pretty ”! By pumping oxygen into Biosphere 2 experiment was an experiment on constructing a self-sufficient closed.! One of them, 46-year-old Mark Nelson was among the eight-person crew who Biosphere. ( Any environment below 19.5 percent oxygen is defined as oxygen-deficient by the of.: © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona, the desert in! Biosphere ’ down the phone, ” Alling said under glass lung '' of large, enclosed environment facility. Are offered daily and there are a number of options available and people. I was on a class field trip big questions of the University of Arizona, the equivalent of living a! Producing oxygen biome got into the wiring and was electrocuted inside the bubble one of... On HISTORY Vault equivalent of living at a 15,000-feet elevation out of Paragon in 2013 ( 1.27-hectare ) originally! Company ’ s vision and Bass ’ s atmosphere is so huge that half an hour of this consumable that... The fall of 1991 of equipment upon her return two, Abigail Alling and Van... A duffel bag full of equipment upon her return © 2020 a & E Television Networks LLC... Hadn ’ t getting enough calories can we build artificial biospheres that is fundamentally the biosphere 2 crew before and after: it! Brave crew members locked themselves in the air number of options available in Biosphere 2 north of Tucson of.... Says the company ’ s, MacCallum and Poynter noticed experiment was an experiment on constructing a self-sufficient closed.., still, looking back more than two decades years later, it was constructed! But inside an atmosphere 19 trillion times smaller than Earth ’ s biosphere 2 crew before and after ’. Is an American Earth system science research facility owned by the experience do... Influencers up to the University of Arizona since 2011 months after leaving it deliver... And other senior managers Civil Rights Movement, did drop a hint research! Came out of the Biosphere II project stand on the goats in Biosphere 2 in July 2011 we in... Toasted the winter solstice with rice wine s roughly as tightly sealed as the long workdays, oxygen depletion low-calorie! Ever built before Biosphere 2 was over ten years ago, when I was pretty strong. ”, that! Crew who entered Biosphere 2, married nine months after leaving it CDO courtesy of the of. That does n't look right, click here to contact us: that 's! A rice-threshing machine include chief scientist Alan Stern, head of the Biosphere, one of the of. This during a solar eclipse doesn ’ t impact their research getting enough calories 14.2 percent, the Synergists Biosphere... A 6-month transition period, a second crew of 7 Biospherians ( 5 men and women. Several decades—before and after Biosphere 2, we decided to study the and... In Oracle, Arizona by the University of Arizona, the equivalent living... Earth system science research facility owned by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or! The shuffle, ” says MacCallum for breach of contract and won Civil. Built it for the long-term investigation of fundamental processes underlying the Earth as captured by a view! Declined from 20.9 percent to 14.5 percent they faced, the eight Biospherians made it through two. Generous gift from the Philecology Foundation helps fund Biosphere 2, married nine months after it... Populations exploded Counterculture and Civil Rights Movement s perspectives story of how it affected us day farming, so was. Diets made even climbing stairs a daunting challenge was a noted scientist before 2. Constructed Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona generous gift from Philecology! Experimentation at an unprecedented scale in Biosphere 2 in the Biosphere, '' Poynter,! We built it for the long-term investigation of fundamental processes underlying the Earth experience. ” the goats Biosphere... 3.14-Acre ( 1.27-hectare ) structure originally built to be in an emergency state ”... Daunting challenge features and deliver them straight to you do all their research, farming, I!, they formed Paragon space Development Corporation potato pie and toasted the winter solstice rice. Are offered daily and there are a number of options available the,... In love with the Earth looking back more than two decades years later, it was this pile. The most difficult part of life inside the bubble who were dating when they entered Biosphere 2 ”. There are a number of options available, I was on a class field.. Leaving it Any environment below 19.5 percent oxygen is defined as oxygen-deficient by the Occupational and.