BioSub - A Self contained BiospheBeneath The Sea

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Alex Michael Bonnici"
wrote:
>
> Hello Gang,
> Today is a historic day in both the annuals of undersea
and space colonization. In a self contained biosphere beneath the
waters of a lake near Albury on the NSW-Victoria border. Australian
marine biologist Lloyd Godson, 29, today began his unusual holiday in
a steel box....
>
> Follow his progress at the following website:
>
> http://www.biosub.com.au/
>
> and read today's news item at
>
> http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21504333-2,00.html
>
> Alex Michael Bonnici
>

Dear Alex,

I read Joe Strout's assessment of the biosub project's significance
and I firmly disagree for several reasons:

1) This project seems to be largely "home grown" (as opposed to the
multi-million dollar government financed space research projects). It
provides us with yet another indicator that research into closed
ecosystems is moving into the public consciousness and out of the
realm of government sponsored space exploration or flaky billionaire
hobbies (such as the Biosphere II project in Arizona, USA). Although
billions will be required to establish our permanent presence in
space, public interest and support is essential to the process of
motivating those who control billions of dollars (in both the public
and private sectors).

2) The participants come to the biosub project with a variety of
motivations - ranging from demonstrating the usefulness of a product
they manufacture (solar panels, for instance) to practical learning
experience (such as the students at Cascade High School who want to
develop a cost effective means to reduce nitrate and phosphate
pollution of Cascade Lake) to shear adventurism (such as the intrepid
Mr. Godson). This is a good thing. It illustrates that research
applicable to space travel and space settlement can have practical
applications in our everyday life right here on earth, and that
"ordinary" people can still have a spirit of adventure without being
considered crazy.

3) Finally, this is the first post I've seen in a while that is
truly pertinent to the subject of space settlement. Although I find
the discussion of Artificial Intelligence interesting, it's a subject
that just isn't needed to get us into space permanently. On the other
hand, the low-tech plastic tubing of Cascade High School's biocoil
might be a standard feature of even advanced space settlements of the
future. If your post does nothing else but get us off the subject of
Artificial Intelligence and back to the practical question of how
we're going to establish a permanent presence in space then I will
enthusiastically applaud Mr. Godson's "trip" as a historic day for
space colonization.