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Your faithful writer,
Dr. Daniel Smith

ART OF THE DAY

During the Cold War, the possibility of a nuclear war destroying the Earth led people to ask: How can we help humans survive in space?

Starting in 1984, scientists, futurists, and a wealthy billionaire decided to build a self-contained ecosystem in Arizona where plants, animals, and even humans could survive without external oxygen or water.

It was called the Biosphere 2.

Although the project was only operational for a few years, it was one of the first successful attempts by humanity to build a closed ecological system.

What was Biosphere 2?

The Biosphere 2 project launched in 1984, with billionaire Ed Bass providing $150M in funding to the research team.

Biosphere 2 was intended to explore the possibility of creating self-sustaining habitats for humans in space, as well as to study the interactions between different ecosystems.

The project was named Biosphere 2 because the first Biosphere was the Earth itself.

Ed Bass, who came from an extraordinarily rich Texas oil family, described himself as an “ecopreneur” to the New York Times in a 1991 interview about the Biosphere project.

The facility contained several distinct biomes, including:

• a rainforest

• an ocean with a coral reef

• mangrove wetlands

• savannah grassland

• agricultural areas

Because the heat of the sun caused oxygen in the Biosphere to expand during the day, the Biosphere even had “lungs” to help keep air pressure at consistent levels.

The First Biosphere Mission (1991-1993)

The first Biosphere mission began in September 1991, when eight scientists were sealed inside the Biosphere.

Halfway through the two-year mission, however, oxygen levels had fallen significantly.

This caused some plants and animals in the Biosphere to die, and the project’s organizers ultimately injected pure oxygen into the Biosphere to ensure that the human residents — known as Biospherians — wouldn’t be at risk.

Internal fighting within the Biospherians and problems with management ultimately led the experiment to end in September 1993.

The Second Biosphere Mission (1991-1993)

The second mission began in March 1994, with a different team of 7 scientists being sealed inside the Biosphere.

Less than a month later, Bass hired investment banker (and later Trump White House adviser) Steve Bannon to help deal with alleged financial mismanagement of the project.

In response, two members of the first mission crew returned to the Biosphere and vandalized the exterior of the facility, breaking glass panes and opening air-lock doors to let oxygen in.

Several members left the Biosphere and were replaced in the following month, and the Space Biospheres Venture company that backed the project was dissolved in June 1994. Three months later, in September, the second mission was ended prematurely.

After the Missions

Although the missions were widely seen as failures, scientists appreciated the ambition of the Biosphere experiments and published research based on work done in during the missions.

Columbia University took control of the facility in 1995, using the Biosphere as a research site and campus until 2003.

Biosphere 2 was later acquired by the University of Arizona in 2007.

Today, science camps are held in the Biosphere and tourists are invited to visit the facility.

LEARN MORE:

The Biosphere experiment was widely seen as a failure, but it raises interesting questions about scientific ambition and the ability of humans to control our environment.

If you want to learn more about the Biosphere missions and the problems they faced, check out this brief documentary from PBS about the history of Biosphere 2:

Thank you for reading. Please reply to this email if you have any thoughts or feedback.

Yours,
Dan