Roughly 60 miles northeast of Tucson, Arizona resides a glass-enclosed research facility, Biosphere 2.
The perfect site to test out the highly anticipated G Pen Gio.
Constructed by Space Biosphere Ventures in 1987, the apparatus took four years to build. Originally meant to "demonstrate the viability of closed ecological systems to support and maintain human life in outer space," it's hosted two missions of research groups that attempted to live exclusively in a closed-system experiment.
The first mission lasted two years. Despite numerous challenges and criticism from the media, it laid the foundation for one of the most unusual facilities for scientific study and discovery.
The complex houses seven model ecosystems: a rain forest, ocean, forested swamps dominated by mangrove trees, tropical savanna grassland, coastal fog desert, three desert hillslope grass-shrubland landscapes, and the Biosphere 2 campus, which serves as an urban ecosystem.
Since Biosphere 2 was originally designed to be quarantined from the outside world, the two lungs are considered great engineering achievements to the facility. The West Lung (above) served as a "variable expansion chamber" to allow pressure changes inside Biosphere 2. With this giant rubber membrane, the facility was able to remain sealed off while still letting air expand and contract.
A controlled vegetation habitat for future space travel. Didn't see any potatoes...
In its entirety, the campus spans over 3.14 acres. It serves as a "model city," allowing researchers to monitor and manipulate an array of situations without ramifications. This provides a unique approach in developing better practices and strategies for resource management as the planet continues adapting to climate change.
What was once a library to the original researchers now serves as an art gallery.
We were lucky enough to see the last day of Lee Pivnik's (artist in residence) Love That Bears No Fruit.
If you're interested in eco-systems and sustainable practices, be sure to stop by Biosphere 2 next time you're in Arizona.
