Historical Paragon

As printed in Volume 6, Number 2 Issue of ISU's The Universe (1994)

Four women and four men were sealed inside Biosphere 2 on September 26,1991, to begin a two year exploration. Shortly after Biosphere 2 was sealed, an unusually cloudy Arizona winter and spring, plus unanticipated insect pest problems reduced the crop yields from our farm. We had to ration food, and, though the crew lost some weight, we all came through in excellent health. Our diet is nutritionally complete, low in fat and calories and has resulted in health benefits such as lowered cholesterol. About one-third of our workload is devoted to producing food which included turning and seeding fields, tending plants, harvesting, processing the crops into ingredients like flour, tending the animals and cooking the food. Our diet is primarily vegetarian with one meat meal per week. We take it in turns to cook every eight days. Occasional feasts such as Thanksgiving and New Year are very important.

The remainder of our time is spent in monitoring and maintaining the various technical systems, collecting data, communicating with a team of outside scientific consultants and researchers, preparing reports, and somehow finding time for individual research projects and creative endeavors like writing, painting, video documentation, music and computer network postings.

There is a sense of being remote or disconnected like when on extended travel to ISU or to someplace totally different, that makes you want to pick up the Herald Tribune, watch CNN, see the latest movie and call friends. I have become more interested in world events than ever before. I don't long for information about my country of origin, I long for information about the world. A sense of connectedness and caring for our biosphere like a team preparing for the big game or an ISU class at its best.

All is going fairly well, our winter crop of wheat has just sprouted, the beans are in flower, coffee beans are ripening, the chickens are molting so they have stopped laying eggs, goat kids are due in 4 weeks and the grasses in the savannah are flowering so for some of us it's allergy season in the biosphere. Broad mites are attacking the potato crop which is a big problem, and we have recently discovered a Banana Weevil burrowing into corm of the banana plants. Bananas are our largest source of sweet fruit so this is another problem we are attacking in a big way. Remember, no pesticides. If we used them we would be drinking them within an hour of application. Even though we can just walk out the door, we treat these things like they are life and death. Some day they will be.

The crew and I celebrated Thanksgiving with a dinner of stuffed roast pig, Indonesian rice with peanuts, stir fried vegetables, baked beans, salad, chutney, crepes with ice cream, sweet potato pie, cheese cake, bread, soup and home brew.

I do much of the raising and slaughtering of the animals and decided to roast a young pig whole, on a spit, after stuffing the pig with guavas, bananas and papaya. The fruit made the pork tender and sweet. This will be the last swine that I dress because an analysis of the farm animals during the first 13 1/2 months of the experiment has shown that the pygmy goats, in this situation, are the most efficient and successful transformers of the vegetation we have into food for humans, and their milk has also been delicious. The chickens are second in efficiency and not in competition with the goats for food because they eat primarily worms and cockroaches. Nothing goes to waste. We ate the pigs.

I read that the third quarter of the time people spend in an isolated confined environment is the most psychologically difficult, both personally and with regard to the group dynamic. The forth or last quarter is said to be the best time. Even now just one week into the last quarter this seems to be very true. I realize for the first time that we might just be able to complete the two year mission; sort of rounding the corner into the home stretch, a second wind. Many factors have combined over the months to make a complicated, involved and arduous psychological situation.

It is difficult to describe what I find happening to myself. The confinement and work in Bio2 seem to bring out many personal difficulties that are inescapable. The experience brings out memories and feelings from as far back as childhood, that don't go away without the determination to resolve the particular issue at it's psychological source. The pressure combines with other factors to weaken our emotional defenses, making people thin skinned and irritable.

Interactions with people outside are very important – a few ISU folks have come to visit me which is great, all are welcome. We have a place with a phone on both sides of a pane of glass, a hand shake is done by placing open palms on either side of the glass. Tickling and kissing are done in a similar manner.

We allowed the oxygen to drop to its current concentration of 14.4% primarily to determine if the rate of decline would reduce with the concentration, and to allow a study to proceed examining the acclimation of the crew to the reduced partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere. Some aspects of the acclimation appear to possibly have been delayed for reasons that are not yet clear. Tests done this week indicated that now all crew members are showing signs of acclimation. The crew's ability to acclimatize to falling levels of oxygen indicate that we can function satisfactorily in the range of 16% - 19% O2.

Symptoms of hypoxia are being reported from the crew. I am concerned as safety officer that a further drop may lead to a safety problem, thus, we have decided to supplement the oxygen in Biosphere 2. The oxygen level I am breathing now, as I key this in, is about equal to the oxygen partial pressure at an altitude of 13,400 feet/4,000 meters. Over 9,000 kg of liquid oxygen will be trucked to the sight and injected as gas into the west “lung”. This is expected to be the only oxygen injection needed for the remainder of the 1991-1993 mission.

Oxygen began coming in yesterday, thus far the O2 has been increased by 0.5% to 14.9%. The total addition will be slow, over about the next 10 days. Yes, the oxygen is actually being removed from the Biosphere 2 atmoshere. In fact we are missing 12,000 kg of oxygen. The capacity of the variable volume chambers has been enough to handle the reduced total volume.

The symptoms are the same as at high altitude, though remember that we have "ascended the mountain" over a period of 15 months. The slow reduction in the partial pressure of oxygen has allowed us to acclimate so the effect is slightly different from that of suddenly experiencing reduced pO2, as in a flight simulation chamber. Our respiration and heart rate increased and changes in the chemistry and composition of our blood occurred in order to help compensate for the reduced pO2.

We all went to the location where the oxygen was being injected and the result was quite invigorating. After suddenly breathing air with a full compliment of oxygen, for the first time in over a year, I must say that the difference is profound. The oxygen not only affected me physically in the form of easier breathing, generally increased energy and . increased work capacity, but also emotionally. I am less irritable and I feel like I am emerging from a pot of thick goo. Also, thinking seems to go faster and more accurately . Others of the crew have reported similar effects. This experience brings home to me the extreme seriousness of depending on a life support system for the years involved in a Mars mission. Whether the system is physical, chemical, biological or some combination of both, insidious problems that slowly effect the crew’s performance will tend to create a positive feedback system – the less the crew is capable of handling the situation, the worse the situation gets.

While in many ways Biosphere 2 is inexorably linked to the earth energetically, gravitationally, informationally and scientifically, material closure creates for many intents and purposes another entity. Our attitude and actions are definitely those of people who are a part of another world. The mission rules and the unspoken rules, our cravings, desires and the physical/mental transformations thus far can only be explained by a drastic departure from what I once new to be the norm, though I am still part of, and for my very breath and sustenance depend on a Biosphere.

August 8th, forty seven days to go and I’m excited! Plans are afoot for the ISU, family and friends party at my house the night of September 26.

We were being to experience what I call (for the lack of an appropriate term)”short timers” syndrome, from the name given to people approaching the end of a tour of duty in combat. As we approach the end of our journey in Biosphere 2 two things seem to be happening: the pressure created by the anticipation of getting out is rapidly increasing, and the need to be polite to other crew members (because one still must live and work with them) is rapidly decreasing with the time remaining. The result is short tempers, loose lips and a generally antagonistic attitude. Bouts of depression in some crew members are occurring in those with trepidation about getting out. The menacing side of it is summed up with the phrase “who cares, it’s almost over.” The dangers associated with this are self evident. The other response to this is one of caution so as to "not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

A year ago it was not clear if Bio2 would continue to work, even to the degree that it has. Low internal light intensity due to the structure and unusual weather patterns contributed to problems with food production and carbon dioxide control. Oxygen seemed to be disappearing from the atmosphere, pest infestations damaged crops and maintaining the wilderness biomes proved challenging. Without building and operating closed ecological systems, the exact nature of their problems can not be discovered and corrected.

The significance thus far of the Biosphere2 project for space is essentially that complex dosed ecological systems are a viable means of research and long term life support. Also, technology developments required to build and operate Bio2 contribute to the design of closed systems for space. Bio2 is now a unique laboratory for studying closed systems ecology as a whole while affording a venue for allied topics such as genetics, medicine and psychology. The potential of Biosphere 2 is large, though has not been realized.