ORACLE, Ariz. -- Eight researchers waved farewell to the outside world Thursday and entered the closed environment of Biosphere II, a 3. 15-acre high-tech complex where they hope to sustain themselves for the next two years.
Four men and four women wore tight black, green-trimmed jumpsuits as they smiled and accepted kisses and best wishes from the project's organizers and costumed American Indians.
The Biospherians, as they call themselves, entered their new world at about 8:20 a.m. and spectators cheered as a latch was shut behind them to lock them in. The Biospherian to enter, Abigail Alling, smiled and waved to the crowd through a porthole in the door.
The team will live for two years in the facility, which looks like a monstrous greenhouse. It is furnished with all manner of flora and fauna and the researchers will grow their own food and play music. They may even have sex.
By studying how plants, animals, insects, air, soil, humans and a huge air conditioning system interact in the greenhouse, they hope to learn better means of managing Earth's ecosystem -- which they call Biosphere I.
The idea is to create a totally enclosed and self-sufficient ecological system that could serve as a model for projects in environments considerably less hospitable than the scorching Arizona desert such as Mars.
Located 35 miles north of Tucson on U.S. Highway 89, Biosphere II may be the tourist attraction of an ecology-conscious age.
The structure covers 3.15 acres -- about three football fields -- stands 85 feet tall at its highest ppcc ynsrrxx. ynvorxx. xxxxxxxx us to naa sin r a bc-biosphere:1135aed ld 9-26 NEWLN: (6grafld-picksup5thgraf: located about -- biospherians locked in)NEWLN: Two-year 'biosphere' experiment beginsNEWLN: JULIE PRINCE
ORACLE, Ariz. (UPI) -- Eight researchers waved farewell to the outside world Thursday and entered the closed environment of Biosphere II, a 3. 15-acre high-tech complex where they hope to sustain themselves for the next two years.
Four men and four women wore tight black, green-trimmed jumpsuits as they smiled and accepted kisses and best wishes from the project's organizers and costumed American Indians.
The Biospherians, as they call themselves, entered their new world at about 8:20 a.m. and spectators cheered as a latch was shut behind them to lock them in. The Biospherian to enter, Abigail Alling, smiled and waved to the crowd through a porthole in the door.
The team will live for two years in the facility, which looks like a monstrous greenhouse. It is furnished with all manner of flora and fauna and the researchers will grow their own food and play music. They may even have sex.
By studying how plants, animals, insects, air, soil, humans and a huge air conditioning system interact in the greenhouse, they hope to learn better means of managing Earth's ecosystem -- which they call Biosphere I.
The idea is to create a totally enclosed and self-sufficient ecological system that could serve as a model for projects in environments considerably less hospitable than the scorching Arizona desert such as Mars.
Located 35 miles north of Tucson on U.S. Highway 89, Biosphere II may be the tourist attraction of an ecology-conscious age.
The structure covers 3.15 acres -- about three football fields -- stands 85 feet tall at its highest point, and has more than 7 million cubic feet of interior space.
Five wilderness ecosystems co-exist inside the greenhouse. Duplicated under glass are a rain forest, an ocean complete with a wave-making machine, a marsh, a savanna and a desert populated by more than 4,000 species of animals, plants and insects.
The air is sealed inside the greenhouse. The glass-encased Biosphere II would overheat like the inside of a closed car on a hot day were it not for the massive cooling system.
As the air heats and expands in the sealed Biosphere, two giant dome- enclosed 'lung' pouches inflate. Otherwise the heat and pressure would burst the glass walls.
The plants on a half-acre farm provide food for the eight researchers. The lush plantings elsewhere in the biosphere are expected to pull pollutants from the air, return oxygen, and purify the water.
They will raise chickens, miniature pigs and goats, and fish to provide eggs milk and meat. The fish will live in rice tanks, feeding on a crop of earthworms raised elsewhere in the Biosphere.
A refrigeration system works with outside cooling towers to cool the air and water to abut 85 degrees in summer and 65 degrees in winter. The plumbing within the Biosphere runs for miles and is powered by a 5.2- megawatt generator -- big enough to power a small city.
The circulation system also makes mist in the rain forest, scrubs algae from the ocean and makes waves. Fans aerate the soil, helping microorganisms break down organic matter into soil nutrients.
The project by Space Biospheres Ventures is more than $100 million overbudget, critics say, accusing the company of building a scientific amusement park rather than a serious experiment. Each of the Biospherians has extensive experience in scientific, agricultural or mechanical fields, but they are not an overly academic group.
Company officials have not overlooked the profit potential of the venture.
Space Biospheres Ventures has filed dozens of patent applications for various air, water and soil purification systems that have been developed over the project's six-year planning and building phase.
Even before the eight went through the airlock and the experiment began, it had hosted some 600,000 tourists at $9.50 each who may also stay at the company's nearby motel and eat at the company's restaurant.
The company is also seeking Pinal County's approval of plans for trailer parks and even a golf course.
Six years in the planning and construction, Biosphere II has been criticized by some as being faulty science by people who are 'trying to run before they can walk.'
Some say it is too complex to yield usable scientific data. So far the only successful closed system experiments have been glass jars containing a single life form.
Others say respected scientists have been seduced by the promise of grant money to lend their expertise and reputations to the project.
Another criticism is that the ratio of plants to animals is too high. Animals consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide, which the plants then recycle into more oxygen. A shortage of animals could result in too little carbon dioxide and the plants could starve and die.
The researchers, who are all single and average just over 40 years of age, will live in quarters officials described as a miniature city with infirmary, offices, laboratories, library, gym and common kitchen in addition to two-room apartments for each of the eight occupants. One of them is a physician.
They will spend about four hours a day farming and another four hours on scientific experiments. The remainder of their day is leisure time.
They will be monitored by television cameras and speak with outside staff members on the telephone.
A spokeswoman says there will almost certainly be sexual activity, but that reproduction is discouraged.NEWLN: more
The Biospherians are:
--Sally Silverstone, 36, of Walthamstow, England, who holds a bachelor's degree in applied social studies. She has experience working with drought relief and agricultural systems in India and and managed a hostel for mentally handicapped adults. She is in charge of project finances.
--Mark van Thillo, 30, of Antwerp, Belgium, a degree in mechanics and in charge of technical systems. He is an experienced ship's engineer and has worked in petroleum refining.
--Abigail Alling, 31, of New York. An expert on sea mammals, she coordinated the selection of species to live in the ocean and marshes.
--Linda Leigh, 39, of Wisconsin, she has a bachelor's degree in botony, and worked as a botanist with the National Science Foundation. She is in charge of the plant life.
--Taber McCallum, 27, of Albuquerque, N.M. He worked with van Thillo on the R/V Heraclitus, a research vessel funded by Texas millionaire Edward P. Bass, who also funded the Biosphere. McCallum operates the air, water, soil and tissue analysis lab.
--Mark Nelson, 44, of New York. The head of the Institute for Eco/Technics, the London group responsible for the Biosphere, Nelson majored in philosphy and minoring in agronomy. He is in charge of feeding the animals and communicating with the outside.
--Jane Poynter, 29, of Surrey England. She worked on the marine coral reef and the insect collection. She will manage the farms.
--Dr. Roy Walford, 67, of Los Angeles. The physician and UCLA gerontologist has researched life extension through food restrictions.
