Biosphere 2 is a unique research facility located in the desert of southern Arizona. Originally conceived in the 1970s as an experimental prototype for self-sustaining human habitats on other planets, Biosphere 2 has evolved into a cutting-edge laboratory for studying Earth’s ecosystems and climate change. As space exploration advances, Biosphere 2 provides valuable insights that can inform the development of closed-loop life support systems needed for long-duration space missions.
Origins and Early History
The genesis of Biosphere 2 lies with an avant-garde group called the Theater of All Possibilities, led by John Allen. Envisioning a future where self-sustaining human settlements would exist on other planets, they aimed to build and live inside a materially-closed ecological system on Earth as a first step. This experimental habitat, named Biosphere 2, was constructed between 1987-1991 at a site north of Tucson, Arizona. Funded primarily by billionaire Edward Bass, the $200 million complex encompassed 3.15 acres of sealed glass and steel geodesic domes and pyramids housing seven model ecosystems including rainforest, savanna, desert, marsh, ocean, and intensive agricultural area.
In September 1991, the first crew of eight biospherians entered and sealed themselves inside Biosphere 2 for a planned two-year quarantine. They grew the majority of their own food and recycled air, water, and waste within the enclosure to create a self-sustaining system capable of supporting human life. It was the first attempt at such an ambitious scale to explore the potential for extraterrestrial colonization. However, the Biosphere 2 experiment experienced a number of problems. Oxygen levels inside the habitat dropped while carbon dioxide increased to dangerous levels, requiring additional oxygen to be pumped in from outside. Farming fell short of providing enough food and other unexpected issues led managers to end the first mission after 18 months instead of two years.
Columbia University took over management of Biosphere 2 in 1996 for several years of additional research missions with updated techniques and technology. But by 2003, with its huge operating costs and no clear commercial pathway, the once-celebrated experiment was widely dismissed as impractical. The facility changed hands again before the University of Arizona assumed ownership and control in 2007.
Revitalization as a Climate Change Laboratory
After Biosphere 2’s checkered early history, the University of Arizona recast its research mission with a new focus – serving as a controlled laboratory for studying global environmental challenges like climate change, water scarcity, and shifting ecosystems. These pressing issues share key features analogous to operating a self-sustaining habitat: managing limited resources, maintaining livable conditions, and understanding complex interdependent systems. Biosphere 2’s unique capabilities for experimentation at an intermediate scale between small-scale lab tests and global systems made it well-suited as a climate change research site.
The centerpiece of Biosphere 2 today is the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO). This huge facility allows geophysical scientists to assess landscape and ecosystem changes under different climate scenarios. LEO consists of a set of instrumented model landscapes housed in a greenhouse-like enclosure. By manipulating temperature, precipitation, and other conditions in LEO, researchers can accelerate simulations of environmental impacts that occur over decades or centuries in the real world. Experiments assess the effects of altered rainfall and drought on plant growth and soil chemistry in mini-watersheds under controlled conditions that cannot be replicated in field studies. Results will lead to more accurate climate change models and improved environmental prediction.
In addition to LEO, Biosphere 2 scientists study the response of rainforest and coral reef biomes to higher temperatures and increasing acidity mimicking expected climate change effects. These experiments measure actual ecosystem responses and their potential to adapt, such as testing heat-resistant coral strains. Biosphere 2 also recently partnered with a biotech startup to develop probiotic treatments to make coral more resilient to bleaching. Ongoing research assesses crop growth, soil health, and water management techniques for arid regions like the Southwestern U.S. Engineers test innovations integrating agriculture with renewable energy systems, like solar panels over shade-tolerant crops.
Applications for Space Exploration
While no longer testing fully closed ecological systems for space colonization as originally conceived, Biosphere 2 still generates knowledge to inform future long duration space habitats. As NASA plans extended human exploration of the Moon and Mars, reliable life support systems must recycle air, water, and waste while producing food without resupply from Earth. Controlled environment agriculture that shares features with Biosphere 2 biomes will enable self-sufficiency. Understanding complex soil chemistry and plant growth is vital for space greenhouses. Water recycling, atmospheric regulation of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and system stability over time are critical challenges that build on lessons from Biosphere 2. Its coral reef biome also parallels plans for bioregenerative life support systems using algae.
Moreover, the experience of living inside an enclosed habitat shares psychological and social similarities with future space missions. Crew cohesion, morale, productivity, and decision-making under isolated, confined conditions for months or years require study by space agencies. Biosphere 2’s first two year closure experiment and subsequent shorter missions exposed human factor issues. Crew composition, training, leadership structure, habitat design, sensing technology, and data collection for future biospheres/space habitats benefit from this early analog. Biosphere 2 itself may again house year-long or longer human missions to further this research.
Summary
Far from the failure early critics claimed, Biosphere 2 today leads global environmental research and space exploration planning. It serves as a unique controlled experimental platform filling the gap between small lab tests and planetary scale systems. Manipulating temperature, water, atmosphere and other conditions of interlinked ecosystems enables new insights on climate change impacts and potential mitigations. Desert agriculture, water management, energy-food-environment systems, and social dynamics of isolated groups are all informing designs for sustainable human space settlements. Once a visionary idea dismissed as impractical, Biosphere 2 has come full circle to contribute real solutions for humanity’s future on Earth and in space.
