Biosphe2 bashing

I am amazed that the same group of people interested in closed life support
space habitat design issues would be so happy to join in attacking the
Biosphere 2 project based on the most ridiculous rumors.

Do you really think these space habitat designs of yours will ever get
started? In 20 years, do you want to be at *exactly* the same place you are
right now? Then you might ask yourself why you are sharing in the attacks
on one of the few projects that tried to address some of these issues.

And in a few years, if you started a project that contributed to building a
space colony, how will you feel when space colony supporters start trashing
your efforts? Or maybe I misunderstood the attraction of these projects -
maybe they are intended to remain idle dreams.

The main failure I see for Biosphere 2 was their public relations. Several
basic concepts about the project were not adequately communicated.

- It was privately funded research trying to develop proprietary life
support technologies - NASA+others bashed them for not making their
research public and somehow convinced the public that *not* taking public
money was a bad thing! (When I had a student study putting a biosphere on
the Moon, they were very good about sending me hundreds of pages of design
details. They had lots of info, but you don't run a business by publishing
proprietary information.)

- Biosphere 2 was built to test the idea of making a system large enough
(size, species, complexity) to see if it could balance itself, as other
ecosystems do. This was an approach that was not in vogue among traditional
life support engineers. NASA promotes the 'one species at a time, in a tin
can' approach. A few years ago, NASA was up to 3 species, while Biosphere 2
was testing one with thousands. And yes, Bio2 collected data for large
spreadsheets to monitor the species, with plant counts, etc. When you hear
the wild attacks, you might consider the source - they include the same
people who visited Biosphere 2, and stole their insect lab design, then
reported to NASA management of their new progress..

- Biosphere 2 was criticized for opening the airlock to get medical
attention for one of the crew after a severe finger cut. But the closed
system was being tested for input/outputs - not with the idea you would
lock the door and ignore crew safety. I can only imagine the reaction if
the crew had stayed inside and let the injury get more serious. They did
try to tough it out with low amounts of food, and serious changes in oxygen
level. (Contrast this to all the happy press over Mars Society 'tests' in
Canada, when nobody asks them what exactly they are testing. 'Look! We can
camp out!')

- With big systems (think of a particle accelerator, in honor of Gerry),
you learn a lot just trying to get it running. You don't build a second
accelerator as a 'control' - you build a system and do science by
perturbing the system. There were lots of unexpected problems - which are
just the kinds of things that teach you lessons. (One lesson - watch out
for long term interactions between building materials - like concrete, and
your atmosphere.) Today the system is being used to test high CO2 effects
on plants.

Biosphere 2 has many lessons that will be important for space colony
design. But what chance does any new space colony project have after how
they were treated? Are you all happy to wait for NASA to build you a space
colony? (I wonder, is NASA up to 4 species yet? At this rate, in 200 years..)

- Eric

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