Being in lockdown sucks.
Whether it’s from house arrest or because of a global pandemic, being trapped inside
is never fun.
But at least you probably still had some access to conveniences.
Like if you wanted pizza for dinner, chances are you could make that happen.
Probably in 30 minutes or less even.
But what if you wanted pizza and knew that it would take four months to arrive?
That’s how long it took when some crew members of Biosphere 2 had a hankering for pizza.
They spent four months growing a crop of wheat, which then had to be threshed and ground.
Tomatoes, peppers and onions had to grow and ripen.
Cheese made from goat’s milk had to mature.
But that's what happens when you’re living off the land, locked away in a science experiment
for two years.
Biosphere 2 was the brainchild of John Allen, a charismatic New Age visionary--aka a hippie
and Edward P. Bass, a Texas billionaire.
They wanted to create an airtight self-sustaining ecological system, as a way to explore the
viability of habitats to support human life in deep space missions or planetary colonies.
They named their project Biosphere 2, because earth is the first Biosphere, of course.
It took seven years between 1987 and 1991 to construct Biosphere 2.
The project, built in the Arizona desert, about 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Tucson,
was originally supposed to cost $30 million, but costs ballooned to around $150 million
before it was finished.
Admittedly it’s a technological marvel, and is still impressive even today.
The sprawling 3.15 acre complex comprised mainly of glass and steel, is a miniature
world containing seven different biomes: a rainforest with a 25 foot waterfall, a fog
desert, an ocean with a coral reef, a mangrove swamp, a savannah grassland, and to support
the human inhabitants an agricultural system and human living spaces, complete with sleeping
quarters and workshops.
The complex was stocked with 3,000 species of plants and animals including chickens,
goats, bees and even some bush babies.
From the outside a ‘Mission Control’ team of experts could monitor the crew and Biosphere
2 itself via sensors, phone and computer readings.
On the morning of Sept. 26, 1991, after a blessing and goodbye ceremony, the eight Biospherians,
four men and four women, locked themselves inside of Biosphere 2 with plans to stay in
without leaving for two years.
Problems started almost immediately.
Two weeks into the mission, crew member Jane Poynter got her hand caught in a rice thresher,
losing the tip of one of her middle fingers.
The resident doctor, Roy Walford, reattached it, but the graft didn’t take.
Later he decided she needed to go to a hospital for more surgery.
After seeking medical treatment, Poynter returned to Biosphere 2.
When she reentered the airlock though, the press noticed something - she had a big duffel
bag with her that she didn’t have when she left.
The media made much of this event--not only had a crew member left and reentered, but
they had brought back secret supplies with them.
This couldn’t happen on Mars.
Poynter later clarified that the supplies were just extra computer parts and color film,
not some special food or an item the crew couldn’t live without.
Much of the first year of the lockdown experiment, the ecosystem was in flux.
The coral reef rapidly became overgrown with algae.
Most of the hummingbirds and bees died, making farming even more labor intensive as the crew
had to pollinate by hand.
Also, nematode worms and broad mites attacked the crops.
A few species of cockroach had been brought into Biosphere 2 because they were good for
the soil.
Unfortunately, a common household cockroach hitched a ride in and not only dominated the
other species of cockroaches, but became a pest in the living quarters.
A bush baby in the rainforest biome got into the wiring and was electrocuted.
The weather was cloudy for the first few months of the mission and the light filtering through
the glass panes was dimmer than expected.
This killed off many of the fish and other marine life.
Even worse, the lack of sunlight stunted the crops.
The crew primarily ate vegetarian, growing 80 different crops such as kale, carrots,
peppers, beets, banana, and wheat--at one point they were eating so many sweet potatoes
that their skin picked up an orange hue.
They did have milk from the resident goats and the occasional egg from the chickens.
Meat was served maybe once a week.
For especially the first 6 months the crew had decent nutrition, but was underfed.
Daily caloric intake for crew members averaged 1,780 calories.
Not a lot when you’re doing research, experiments, and performing manual farm labor.
The crew all lost between 10% to 20% of their body weight.
Ultimately, they had to break into a three-month supply of food that had been secretly stashed
away before the doors to the outside had closed.
As the Biospherians improved their farming techniques, food production rose.
By the second year the crew had upped their average daily calories to 2,300 and as a result,
they ended up regaining some of their lost weight.
The worst problem the Biospherians endured was oxygen deficiency.
A few months into the mission the crew began to notice that they would pant when climbing
the stairs or just from briskly walking the trails.
The level of oxygen in Biosphere 2 started out at about 21%, the same as the earth’s
atmosphere.
However, by January of 1993, with about 9 months remaining for the experiment, the oxygen
had decreased to just 14.5%.-– the equivalent of living 12,000 feet (3660 meters) up a mountain.
The low oxygen made the crew lethargic and for months they struggled with sleep apnea
and had trouble getting proper rest.
Eventually Mission Control assessed the risk as being too high and a few months before
the experiment was slated to end, they started pumping in oxygen.
Later, scientists figured out that benign microbes in Biosphere 2’s compost-rich soil
converted oxygen into carbon dioxide, which then reacted with the building’s concrete
to form calcium carbonate and remove oxygen molecules from the atmosphere.
Morning glorys were planted to soak up carbon dioxide, but they exploded in number and choked
out other plants, including their food crops.
Crew members had to spend long hours weeding them to make sure they would have something
to eat.
A typical day for one of the crew might look like this: wake up, complete morning chores
such as milking the goats or picking ripe produce.
At 8am they would meet with the rest of the crew while eating breakfast, which was usually
porridge sweetened with banana.
The crew would discuss what everyone needed to do for the day.
Generally everyone would spend a few hours working the farm.
After that the crew would split up and everyone saw to their own area.
Crew members handled different areas such as water management or insects.
In the afternoon the crew might have a media interview via phone or uplink.
After dinner the crew often sat around talking and drinking homemade banana wine.
Some crew members would play instruments or talk with family over the phone.
On site there was a picture window with phones on either side so a Biospherian could have
a conversation and see their family at the same time, a setup not too different from
a prison visitation room.
Meanwhile, the media was very interested in the experiment.
Frequently there were cameras set up outside Biosphere 2.
The site also became a tourist destination in order to try and recoup some of the high
costs involved with running the complex.
Over a million tourists paid $9.95 for tours around the building and the ability to peer
into the terrarium to see the Biospherians at work There was even a gift shop with key
chains and t-shirt so you could prove that you visited Biosphere 2.
Between the visitors and school field trips, along with the food deprivation problem, the
cockroaches taking over and other annoyances, at times the crew felt like they were animals
in a zoo.
But we know there’s still one big question you still have.
The media was obsessed with this topic too and asked this question a lot--Did the Bipsherians
have sex or did they spend 2 years going without?
The crew for the most part refused to talk about their sex lives.
However, one of them, Mark Nelson said “People are people, everything you might expect to
happen with people has happened in here.”
Take from that what you will.
Critics lambasted the Biosphere 2 project throughout the whole experiment, dismissing
it as more show business than science.
The criticism reached new heights when the media found out that external staff members
made several secret deliveries to Biosphere 2, providing seeds, vitamins, mouse traps
and other supplies.
Furthermore an ex-employee revealed to the public that engineers had installed a carbon
dioxide scrubber so that Biosphere 2’s atmosphere could be better artificially managed.
With all the different pressures plus being stuck in one spot with only 8 people, arguments
were bound to happen.
Ultimately, the Biospherians split into two factions divided over differences of opinion
regarding their research goals.
Some crew members refused to speak to each other unless they absolutely had to; going
so far as to turn their face away when they met someone on a path.
Allegedly some crew members stole and hoarded food, refusing to share it with those they
considered traitors.
Later one of the crew members would claim that she was spat at twice.
Finally on Sept. 26, 1993 after 2 years, the 8 person crew emerged from the Biosphere,
thin but relatively healthy.
The doors had been opened 29 times during the experiment.
A second lockup with a different crew started in March of 1994, but was eventually abandoned
after 6 months due to management infighting about spending and authority.
Today, Biosphere 2 is a research station owned by the University of Arizona.
Researchers use it to study global environmental change, weathering, and the effect of drought
on rainforests, among other projects.
The Bispherians dispute the media’s view that Biosphere 2 was a failed project.
The whole point was to test the possibility of human habitats.
Any perceived failings only gave scientists data for future use.
Also there were many small successes during the course of the experiment.
By the end of the first mission, the crew was able to produce 83% of their total diet,
including fodder for domestic animals.
Biosphere 2's farm recycled its nutrients and water, maintaining soil fertility without
chemical fertilizers or any toxic chemicals.
The crew also recycled their sewage, drinking the same water countless times, totally purified
by their plants, soil, atmosphere, and machines.
It wasn’t until 18 years later, in 2009, that NASA announced total water recycling
on the International Space Station.
The Biospehrains also dispute the idea that there was a massive fish and coral die off,
pointing to surveys by coral reef scientists.
At the end of two years, only one coral species had been lost out of some four dozen and new
coral colonies were growing.
Biosphere 2 was the focus of many educational projects and inspired kids around the world.
It brought the term ‘biosphere’ into the mainstream.
It was also the main inspiration for a Pauly Shore movie and the world’s first reality
TV show, Big Brother, which aired in the Netherlands in 1999.
So no matter what you think of it, it’s hard to argue that Biosphere 2 was an ambitious
and unique experiment that was far ahead of its time.
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