Deseret News archives: Biosphere 2 experiment got underway in 1991

A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.

The human terrarium.

The first reality show.

Spaceship earth.

On Sept. 26, 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2; they emerged from Biosphere 2 on the same date in 1993.

Clad in bulky jumpsuits that resembled spacesuits, the group walked into the Santa Catalina Mountains situated between Phoenix and Tucson in southern Arizona to an enclosed glass structure known as Biosphere 2. Their goal was to live and sustain life inside the biosphere.

Built between 1987 and 1991, Biosphere 2 had a goal of demonstrating the viability of closed ecological systems to support and maintain human life in outer space as a substitute for Earth’s biosphere.

Hence Biosphere 2.

Biosphere 2 was only used twice for its original intended purposes as a closed-system experiment: once from 1991 to 1993, and the second time from March to September 1994. Both attempts ran into problems, including low amounts of food and oxygen, and die-offs of many animals and plants.

Then there was the human side: group dynamic tensions among the resident crew, outside politics, a power struggle over management and direction of the project.

A real version of “Gilligan’s Island.”

Since then, the University of Arizona has transitioned the facility into a top-level earth science facility.

Here are some articles from Deseret News archives about the Biosphere 2 experiment:

“ Human terrarium, Biosphere 2, looking good at 20 ″

“ Biosphere advisory panel disbands in frustration”

“ Biosphere 2 participants lose weight”

“ Biosphere’s ‘humbling failure’ hints at nature’s mysteries ”

“ Biosphere 2 has pumped in air, had supply of food beforehand, critics say ”

“ Biosphere porkers end up on dinner table ”

“ Biosphere 2 aims to rebuild image as serious science ”

“ U.S. eyes research at Biosphere 2 ″

“ Biosphere to become science lab, tourist site ”

“ Earth is ‘outside of the safe operating space for humanity,’ new climate study finds ”