Located in southern Arizona just beyond the Santa Catalina Mountains sits a research facility that looks a little oddly placed. To some, it looks like a massive greenhouse and to others, it looks like something from a sci-fi movie about space colonization. Neither assumption would be wrong. In fact, both would be pretty close to the truth about the facility known as Biosphere 2.
Biosphere 2 was first developed in the late 1980s as a sort of science experiment, to see how and if human life could be self-sustained inside a massive biodome for an extended period of time. It combines several different kinds of environments inside one facility to make the world’s largest enclosed ecosystem.
The first experiments took place for two years from 1991 to 1993, when eight crew members were sealed inside the dome to demonstrate what survival inside may look like. Hopes were high at the time but the crew faced quite a few challenges. Crew members got on each others’ nerves, they lost weight, filtration systems didn’t quite operate as anticipated, animal populations exploded or died out unexpectedly, and crew members had a difficult time managing the ocean environment.
Perhaps the most distressing was the oxygen depletion, which ended up resembling the amount of oxygen one would encounter at an elevation of 13,400 feet. (If you’re scratching your head trying to figure out how tall that is, it’s 1,000 feet higher than the top of Humphrey’s Peak in Flagstaff!). This caused crew members to feel increased fatigue and figure out how to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Among the suspects for this distress were the plants and concrete used inside.
While it’s difficult to say if the first mission was a success—it was an experiment, afterall—a second mission was planned the following year in 1994 to correct whatever mistakes were made. This one was expected to last for ten months but was cut short, lasting only six. The second crew encountered more social problems than the first. Among those were some severe management problems both in and out of the dome, which eventually led to the early ending of the mission. There was also an issue with the first crew members vandalizing the property in an attempt to sabotage the mission, leading to broken windows and compromising the air quality inside the dome.
After the second mission ended in September of 1994, Columbia University took over managing the biosphere. It transferred owners a couple more times before eventually being acquired by the University of Arizona in 2007. Today, the university continues to operate and maintain the unique biodome.
Biosphere 2 is home to five distinct, humanmade ecosystems: an ocean, a rainforest, wetlands, desert, and a grassland. I like to think of these as terrariums on steriods; each were researched, carefully constructred, and even include a number of insects and animals added to each ecosystem.
Some areas of the facility were also made into agriculture sections where crew members grew foods like sweet potatoes, beets, rice, and wheat. They also raised domestic animals like goats, chickens, and pigs.
It’s actually pretty impressive when you see it for yourself and not just for the effort put into creating this experimental facility. Visits will show you fantastic sights, like watching fog and rain develop or seeing how the entire facility operates to help keep each system operating as it should. This includes using solar energy and cooling systems that resemble an evaporative cooler.
As for the old researcher habitats, you can see those up close for yourself on a guided tour. It will give you a small peek into what life was like for those months were like locked inside the glass dome.
Today, Biosphere 2 is open to the public as a research facility and tourist attraction. Tours are offered daily for people of all ages to learn about earth science on a smaller scale.
Biosphere 2 is located at 32540 South Biosphere Road in Oracle, about 31 miles north of downtown Tucson. For details about visiting the facility, check out their website, biosphere2.org. And if you've paid a visit to this place, be sure to share your experience with us!
Want to see another incredible place from Arizona’s past? Check out our recent article about an abandoned Santa-themed town north of Wickenburg.
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