How did Biosphere 2, the first failed space colonization experiment in human history, fail?

A long time ago, we introduced the establishment of Biosphere 2, the first failed space colonization experiment in human history. This video goes on to explain why the experiment failed. It can be seen from this experiment that human beings are really not far from establishing colonies on other planets. After all, it was an experiment of 199 1 year, and now it is 202 1 year.

As we mentioned in the last issue, Biosphere 2 was isolated from the world after it was shut down. Apart from sunlight, no matter and energy on the earth can enter this ecological closed system. These four men and four women scientists are about to start a new life.

These eight scientists actually don't know how long they want to live in this closed ecosystem. The instruction given by NASA is that the longer the better. At first, these people lived regularly according to the plan, starting with four hours of maintenance every morning. This maintenance work is to maintain the normal operation of the whole ecosystem and the sowing and harvesting of grain, which is an important link to ensure their survival.

The four hours in the afternoon are the time for these scientists to do their own research and experiments, such as air composition analysis, water and soil analysis and so on. Of course, there is a rule that is inhuman, that is, it is forbidden for these men and women to fall in love, and of course it is even worse to have children. If NASA is also banned, why did you throw four men and four women in pairs?

So these people have nothing interesting to do in the rest of their time except reading books and watching movies, but think about it, people can't be ruthless, unless they are plants and trees. Before long, two underground lovers came into being. At first they thought very well, not falling in love, foreigners. The idea is more open, each takes what he needs, but it's a good idea.

Of course, the mystery is only the initial stage of the experiment. Although there are the most advanced agricultural production methods here, the main crop is potatoes. It is not surprising that Mark Dimon planted potatoes on Mars for several months in "Mars Rescue". Because of this ecological environment, the yield of potatoes is really high, almost five times that of the outside. Of course, they also keep some animals, such as chickens and fish, so everyone's nutrition is still guaranteed. But your crops such as wheat and rice can't go on, because in this environment, such crops have no seeds. The most interesting thing is that at the beginning of the experiment, they brought some pests in order to maintain ecological balance. As a result, these pests actually reduced their grain production.

Not to mention food, you can hardly eat vegetables. Two years later, the nutrition provided by the whole ecosystem has dropped to 80% of everyone's nutrition quota. Of course, these scientists have amazing willpower. After discussion, they consciously went on a diet. But by five months, these scientists began to report to the outside world that they didn't have enough to eat, and hunger had been eroding them, although the outside world gave them some methods, such as redistributing daily food quotas.

You know, once people start to get hungry, they will basically lose their instinct and become irritable. Although these eight people are also determined people, they can't avoid customs and can only try to be rational, but the problems that follow make them feel even more collapsed. That is, the water cycle of the whole ecosystem is also problematic. Although the water is still filtered every day, it is basically useless in the end, which directly leads to the end of the final experiment. These scientists can only use sweet potatoes as food, because there is a problem with water, not to mention not being able to grow vegetables. Many animals died, so they were all skin and bones when they were finally rescued. Among them, the average weight of these four men decreased by 18%, while that of women was 10%. There was a man who was a big fat man weighing 200 Jin when he went in, and less than 65438% when he came out.

The reason is that NASA won't let them go out. If there is no problem with oxygen in the later stage, they may still be asked to insist. In fact, at the beginning of the experiment, the oxygen content of the whole ecosystem was very different from that when it was designed. The results of daily analysis show that the oxygen content has been unstable, not only fluctuates greatly, but also shows a downward trend, while the oxygen concentration decreases and the carbon dioxide concentration definitely increases. So only nine months after the experiment began, the oxygen concentration in the whole ecosystem rose from 20.5 1% to 16.9%, and after these scientists persisted for three months, it was almost 1993 1 month, and the oxygen concentration in the whole ecosystem dropped to/kloc-0.

In fact, the oxygen content is similar to that of the plateau at an altitude of 4000 meters, so this situation directly led to the lack of oxygen for these eight scientists, and some people even experienced altitude sickness, which was very serious at one time. Even after a long sleep, they look depressed. What's more, I was awakened in my sleep because of sudden suffocation.

Of course, these Americans also work hard. NASA ignores them, and they will not sit still. They can only find their own reasons. In fact, these eight people also participated in the initial design work. They all know that even if the ecology of this place is unbalanced, oxygen can't disappear so quickly. Therefore, after a series of deduction and calculation, they blamed the problem on underground concrete. The surface area of underground concrete here is as high as 1 10,000 square meters, which is larger than the sum of the two football fields. Bacteria inside and a large area of concrete will produce a lot of calcium carbonate, so when they test, the calcium carbonate here is 10 times that of the outside world. Such substances breed bacteria, so the concentration of carbon dioxide is getting higher and higher.

This is only the first step. The high concentration of carbon dioxide also led to the disappearance of corals in the ocean and the acidification of seawater, so the whole seemingly perfect ecosystem was basically destroyed. By February of 1993, the concentration of carbon dioxide inside was ten times that outside, while only six of the 25 major vertebrates brought in were still alive, let alone insects, and when bees and hummingbirds,

However, as a result, some vines grow crazier and crazier, among which morning glory is the representative. When these vines climb the dome, the main job of these scientists becomes to clean up vines and weeds, otherwise the food crops will not even have photosynthesis. So at this point, the experiment of Biosphere 2 basically went bankrupt. It is worth mentioning that the door that should never be opened during the experiment was opened 24 times because of too many emergencies.

Although these experimenters couldn't bear it and quit, NASA didn't give up, so in March 1994, they modified the whole Biosphere 2 and started a new round of experiments. This time, four men and three women were released, and the results were not good. Two researchers broke two pieces of glass because of lack of oxygen, so NASA had no choice but to replace all the management teams, but the experiment lasted only six months. Although the results of this experiment have not yet been announced, people familiar with the matter revealed that this experiment has caused huge losses, not only the loss of equipment, but also casualties, so NASA has basically despaired of this experiment.

Although human beings can't escape from the earth, at the current level of science and technology, we believe that if we restart the biosphere experiment, there is a great chance of success, but this experiment also tells us how serious the consequences of the destruction of the ecological environment are, and who can guarantee that the tragedy of Biosphere 2 will not be staged throughout the earth?