Biosphere 2

We toured Biosphere 2 north of Tuscon this morning - what an incredible experiment it was and still is.  Here is a link to their website:  http://www.b2science.org/index.html 

The website says it was built "to research and develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology. Two missions, between 1991 and 1994, sealed Biospherians inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability."

We toured several ecosystems under the glass - rainforest, savannah, desert, and ocean, in which they grew food and even housed pigs and goats.  We also saw the living quarters, kitchen and the tall white tower/library. 

There are two domes which contain huge bladders that function as giant  "lungs"  for the complex, they  really impressed Russ.  This picture is from inside a dome, as the air in the complex heats during the day it expands and the "excess" is funneled into this chamber with a dark, rubber-like roof that can grow to fill the inside of the dome.  The contracting, cooler air in the evening will result in this "lung" collapsing almost down to the floor.  By the way, that small white cylinder in the middle of this picture is 4 feet tall, so you can see the huge scale of this chamber.  The engineering, the ingenuity, the dedication of all involved in this project is amazing and inspiring.