Names: Izzy, Sophia, Olivia

Final Mission Preparation: What Went Wrong with Biosphere 2?

Please discuss each question with your team. One person in the team writes
while the other teammates dictate what to write (or you can all contribute on
to 1 document that is shared). TEAMWORK!!! Answer very thoroughly (roughly
a paragraph for each question), with as much evidence and detail as possible.
Use the articles and videos provided in the slides and research more on your
own. The owner turns in the document while the rest of the teammates mark
it as “done”.

1). What went wrong with the Biosphere 2 experiment?

The oxygen levels had dropped to where the crew could barely function in
nearly the first 18 months. They would have trouble sleeping and would
experience mild headaches and fatigue. Because of this, outside oxygen
had to be added for the crew to survive, which made Biosphere II not
self-sustaining. Also, scientists knew that some of the plant, animal, and
insect species would non survive, but most of the species ended up dying
out. Of the 25 small vertebrates, only 6 survived. Bees were included in
the species that died out, which caused some problems with the plants
not being able to grow.

2). What went right with the Biosphere 2 experiment?

Some things that went right with the biosphere project was that when
the Biospherians came out they were more healthier with lower colestrals
because of all the nutrients they got in the project. Also we learned a lot
from the biosphere project about how the earth works. We saw that
sealed ecosystems can work for years, a lesson that Nasa can use for
colonizing places in space. Another good thing that came out of the
biosphere 2 project was that the information the scientist learned can
also go to helping our rainforest.
3). What have we learned from Biosphere 2 since the manned missions have
ended?
What we have learned from Biosphere 2 since the mission has ended is
that it’s almost impossible to create a replica of earth. This is because
earth is a very complex system and it can't be recreated in a building, but
it's still a nice place to do experiments. Biosphere two helped us
understand the earth just a little bit better. We learned that it's hard to
keep the oxygen levels equal to earths and that it's probably best that we
don't have people living inside of it.

4). What changes could be made to make a new Biosphere mission

successful?

To make Biosphere 2 successful they would have to create a bigger space

for them to live in. A bigger space would allow more oxygen in Biosphere
2, so it would last longer. ANother thing they can do is shorten the
amount of time that they would be in there, since it is hard to live in an
earth replica for very long. All of this would make the Biosphere 2 mission
more successful if we tried it again.