Biosphere2

North of Tucson is Biosphere2. It was a science experiment starting in 1991 for 2 years. Four women and four men were sealed in a 3 acre glass building. There was no outside contact. They had to raise all the food they used. There were 5 different areas, a rainforest, desert, savannah, ocean and marsh. They had a farm where they raised animals for food and a garden for fruits and vegetables. It was called Biosphere 2 because it was to duplicate Biosphere1, which is the earth. The University of Arizona still does experiments there.

The glass building is the actual greenhouse.

Surprised to see snow on mountains in the middle of the desert. The mountain is called Mt. Lemon. It has a ski area. When we were in Tucson, the road to it was closed because of so much snow.

This building supplied all the air to the greenhouse. As we exited the door into a hallway surrounding the structure, it was like a strong wind tunnel. Hold onto your hats! Then we actually exited into the sunlight.

Below is the desert area. You can see the glass surrounding everything. It was very thick with many layers.

This was the coral reef, ocean area. The water was 25' deep. The favorite pastime of the 8 people that were there was to swim in the lagoon for relaxation. There was a gym that was rarely used. They worked such long, hard hours that all they wanted to do was totally relax.

After the experiment was over, most of the public thought it was a failure. They couldn't control the atmosphere enough on the inside. There were leaks. They were hoping to use something like this on Mars or the Moon for people to live in. The scientists didn't call it a failure. It didn't do what they wanted, but it was invaluable for other things.