30 years ago, scientists experimented on immigrating to alien planets and locked 4 men and 4 women in a closed space

Shocked, scientists locked 4 men and 4 women in a simulated ecosystem, and this happened!

How important is our biosphere? An American experiment in the last century can tell people. In 1991, eight scientists moved into the then sensational "Biosphere 2", wanting to prove that humans can also simulate ecosystems. As a result, within two years, he was slapped in the face by the cruel reality.

What is the "Biosphere 2" project? What happened to the 8 men and women inside? What does this experiment tell people? Why do humans want to immigrate to space?

Thirty years ago, scientists locked 4 men and 4 women in a closed space to conduct experiments on immigrating alien planets, and the results were unexpected!

"Biosphere 2"

In the 1980s, several wealthy businessmen in the United States sponsored a project called "Biosphere 2", which is a large enclosed space with a small natural environment, including common geological environments on earth, such as Forests, rivers, oceans and deserts, and about 4,000 species of flora and fauna. Because the earth we live in is "Biosphere 1", so this plan is the second biosphere, called 2.

Why did the United States do this experiment at the time? This also starts with their Mars probe Mariner series. From the 1960s to the 1970s, the United States launched several Mariner probes. Among them, Mariner 11 and 12 became the famous Voyager 1 in the future. No. and No. 2. These successes convinced the American scientific community at the time that it was time to plan alien immigration.

So from 1987, the United States built "Biosphere 2" in the desert of Arizona, covering an area of ​​13,000 square meters, which was the largest artificial glass building in the world at that time. According to the plan, this fully enclosed space relies on the photosynthesis of the plants inside to produce oxygen, and the carbon dioxide produced is also digested by these plants. After its completion in 1989, the plants inside were first cultivated, so that the oxygen concentration reached 21% of that in nature.

In 1991, everything was ready and only owed to the east wind. Scientists selected 8 experimenters, 4 males and 4 females, to enter them. It was originally planned that they would live in it for 2 years. People at the time were so confident in the plan that they thought it was a miniature natural biosphere.

But I didn't expect that the environment inside began to deteriorate sharply just a month after I moved in.

What's going on inside?

Not long after the 8 experimenters moved in, the oxygen concentration in "Biosphere 2" began to drop, and it dropped to 16%. The experimenters obviously felt breathing difficulties, and the outside world had to take emergency oxygen supply to let the oxygen inside. Concentrations are maintained at relatively healthy values.

However, the problems of "Biosphere 2" didn't stop there. The water circulation inside soon became problematic. Since the rainfall could not be produced inside, the simulated artificial seawater became more and more salty, and the introduced fish died on a large scale. Time experimenters need to clean up the carcass of the fish, otherwise the inside will stink. Not long after that, the bees and butterflies inside died mysteriously. Without the pollination of these insects, the plants died directly after blooming for a season.

More than 4,000 kinds of organisms gradually remained only ordinary, and waves of unsettled creatures rose again. The death of the creatures caused the microorganisms in "Biosphere 2" to be extremely active. They decomposed animal carcasses and produced a large amount of carbon dioxide and methane. The external materials of "Biosphere 2" are mainly steel and glass, or double-layered. The "glass mesh" made by the two is very suitable for heat reflection. Unexpectedly, there is a greenhouse effect inside, and the internal temperature rises. The experimenters had to shorten their working hours every day, thus saving energy and physical exertion.

Unexpectedly, such a life breeds contradictions among the 8 experimenters. They began to quarrel over some small things, and finally evolved into a very serious contradiction. As the environment inside "Biosphere 2" began to be harsh, the crops planted by the experimenters could not be harvested smoothly, and the original self-sufficiency was also difficult to meet, and the conflict between the experimenters intensified. For a while, "Biosphere 2" evolved from the previously advertised Eden to "Hell".

The experimenters persisted in it for 21 months. Finally, they couldn't stand it anymore and asked to evacuate. Only then did the scientists rescue them from this suffocating space. You must know that these 8 experimenters are not ordinary people. They are all experts and scholars in biology and medicine. If they can break down in the end, ordinary people will definitely not be able to survive it.

Just like the spirit of the experimenters, the ecosystem of "Biosphere 2" also collapsed, the carbon cycle inside could not unfold, and the carbon dioxide concentration was significantly higher than the outside environment. Scientists have to sadly announce that the $150 million Biosphere 2 mission ended in failure.

Inspiration for mankind

The original intention of "Biosphere 2" is to simulate a natural ecological environment, realize the food chain cycle of producers, consumers and decomposers, and then form an oxygen cycle through the photosynthetic reaction of food. This idea is correct, but it is very difficult to actually implement it.

Scientists at the time believed that the biosphere could be formed by simply putting together the required plants and animals, but they forgot that the environment was also part of the biosphere. The water cycle and material cycle cannot be imitated at all. They must rely on the background given by the earth, such as the atmosphere and the food chain. Humans can't even complete basic imitation, let alone surpass it.

Although the plan failed, Biosphere 2 was not dismantled, and it was taken over by the University of Arizona's Department of Biology and opened as a museum. It warns people how much human beings depend on the earth, and we cannot survive without the environment of the earth.

The previous ambitious space immigration plan has also been postponed indefinitely. It turns out that the successful launch of the probe is still a long way from the real interstellar crossing. But this does not mean that human beings have given up this dream. The failure of "Biosphere 2" has also put forward higher requirements for human's future space program, and at the same time told human beings that the project of replicating the biosphere is not so easy.

Why are humans so obsessed with going to space to emigrate? Wouldn't it be nice to live on Earth properly?

Why do humans migrate to space?

The late physicist Stephen Hawking long ago predicted that the Earth would become less and less habitable for humans, and that humans would one day leave our cradle. So, where do you want to immigrate?

The ideal place to settle is on a planet like Earth. Astronomers believe that there are hundreds of millions of stars in the universe, and it stands to reason that each star may give birth to an "Earth", among which there are also huge planets, known as "super-Earths". Although the number is objective, to reach these "earths", it is necessary to span distances of several light-years.

Voyager 1 and 2 have flown for more than 40 years, but only left the Kuiper Belt. We still do not know where the boundaries of the solar system are. Scientists predict that Voyager will take about 40,000 years to leave the solar system. Obviously, it is impossible for humans to successfully emigrate at one time, so the celestial bodies in the solar system can be used as "springboards" to progress layer by layer and finally leave the solar system.

And the first stop of this springboard is Mars. Mars is considered to be the most likely planet for human habitation outside the earth, but Mars has no atmosphere, and humans cannot live on it directly. Therefore, we need to build a base on Mars, which must be an upgrade of "Biosphere 2" version, must not appear the original error.

That's why it is said that "Biosphere 2" failed, but it provided human beings with valuable lessons and information, and made great contributions to the establishment of extraterrestrial bases in the future.

Of course, if human beings really come this far, they will definitely not be able to stay on the earth for a second. But then again, who made the earth's environment worse? human beings themselves. If the Earth is habitable, why bother to leave? In the 4.6 billion years of the entire solar system, only one earth was born. Why don't humans cherish such unique conditions?

I hope that when people mention the "Biosphere 2" experiment in the future, they will remember the importance of the earth's ecology.