Hello everyone!

--- "Combs, Mike" wrote:
> > Any successful biosphere projects?
>
> No, but we shouldn't be discouraged by the single
> failed example we have
> to date. First, the very first attempt at any new
> thing is rarely
> successful. Secondly, the Biosphere II people were
> more influenced by
> their philosophies than by technical or scientific
> concerns. They were
> trying to replicate the Earth in miniature, with
> mini deserts, marshes,
> grasslands, etc. A more practical group would have
> concentrated on
> building one simple ecology which could support
> people, rather than
> trying to birth a baby Gaia.
>
I saw a presentation last year by Dr. Vadim Rygalov
detailing work done in Russia on stuff similar to
biosphere and was impressed that in Siberia they have
been having a lot more success than in here. They
have been doing extensive work in CLES at the
Institute of Biophysics Siberian Brunch of the Russian
Academy of Sciences in the Interantioal Center for
Closed Ecological Systems Study (ICCESS) in
Krasnoyasrsk.

They have had up and running the BIOS - 3 M closed
ecological system for life support for a number of
years with having russian cosmonauts living in it for
extensive durations. for more info on its history see
http://www.biospheres.com/hisbios3fax.html and for a
good comparison of it and biosphere 2 is at
http://www-sbras.nsc.ru/sicc/cooper10.htm.

Unfortunatly, I have not had the time to pursue this
myself in any detail on their current research but
hopefully this is enough info for you all to pursue
further research. One thing that did impress me
though is that this is much more of a practical analog
to long duration space than biosphere ever was.

Ryan