I t looks futuristic because it is. Biosphere 2 was an ambitious experiment designed to see how man would function in a colony on another planet. Eight people lived inside the three acre complex of domes and glass canopies for two years. They relied on the outside world only for sunlight and electricity. Inside 3,500 plant and animal species were divided among five miniature ecosystems: desert, grassland, marsh, ocean, and rain forest. The bionauts had to live off of the supplies brought with them, growing food and livestock, and recycling their water. Biosphere 2 is constructed primarily of glass, steel, and concrete. One of the items that ensures its isolation from the world around it is a 500 ton stainless steel plate underneath the complex ensuring that even in the event of a systems failure there will be no contamination of the Biosphere's biomes with the host environment. The backers of the project insist it was a success because it accomplished its stated goal: to explore the challenges man will face as he explores the universe. But the validity of the findings were challenged by the scientific community, and the participants vilified by the media as cheaters. That's because the bionauts relied a great deal on stored food from the outside. More importantly, toward the end if the experiment oxygen levels became dangerously low and more O2 had to be pumped in from outside.
26 September, 1991: Eight bionauts are sealed in.
26 September, 1993: Eight bionauts are let out.
1994: A second crew of bionauts is sealed into the complex.
17 September, 1994: The second crew's mission is abandoned amid allegations of financial irregularities.
1995: Biosphere 2 is taken over by Columbia University in New York for use as a research station.
March, 2003: Decisions Investments Corporation sues Columbia University over its use of Biosphere 2. DIC owns the facility, while Columbia manages it. DIC says the university is hurting the facility by refusing to hire an appropriate number of staff, canceling expansion plans, and abandoning research programs.
June, 2007- This facility and 1,658 acres of land surrounding it are sold to a developer for $50 million who plans to build as many as 1,500 homes on the site. The actual Biosphere structure will be preserved, and possibly leased to the University of Arizona for experiments.
