In the early 90s of the last century, the world witnessed a very strange scientific experiment called "Biosphere-2". Eight people, dressed in futuristic uniforms, waved to a huge crowd of journalists and entered a hermetic lock, which was located in the Arizona desert. The airtight glass domes housed five landscape modules: jungle, savannah, swamp, desert, and even a small ocean with a beach and coral reef. Among this beauty was an agricultural block, equipped with the latest technology, as well as a residential building built in an avant-garde style. Also, in addition to people, about 4 thousand various representatives of the fauna were launched inside, including goats, pigs and chickens on the farm.
This whole ark had to autonomously exist for two years, feeding on what grew under the dome, breathing oxygen, which the plants emitted, purifying and endlessly using the same water. A kind of planet in miniature, untouched by the technical revolution, where eight intelligent, enlightened people planned to do simple physical labor, gather at one dinner table, play music in their leisure hours and, finally, work for a great goal, for the benefit of science. Isn't it heaven? It turned out that not everything is so simple …
At first everything was exactly as they dreamed. The colonists enthusiastically worked in the fields of the farm, checked the work of all systems, watched the stormy life of the jungle, fished, sat on their small beach, and in the evenings ate a deliciously cooked dinner with the freshest products on the balcony overlooking the ripening harvest. Behind the green beds and the glass wall of the farm, there was a desert and a mountain range, behind which the sun was setting. The colonists called this balcony "Visionary Cafe" - from here the future seemed especially bright. After dinner, philosophical discussions or impromptu jam sessions were held. Many took musical instruments with them, and although there were no professional musicians among them, what came out, in the wake of general enthusiasm, seemed to be the avant-garde music of the future.
About a week later, Biosphere's chief technician, Van Tillo, came to breakfast very excited. He announced that he had strange and unpleasant news. Daily measurements of the air condition showed that the designers of the dome made a mistake in their calculations. The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere gradually decreases and the percentage of carbon dioxide increases. While this is completely imperceptible, however, if the trend continues, after about a year, existence at the station will become impossible. From that day on, the paradise life of the bionauts ended, an intense struggle for the air they breathed began.
Firstly, it was decided to build up green biomass as intensively as possible. The colonists devoted all their free time to planting and caring for plants. Second, they launched a backup carbon dioxide absorber at full capacity, from which it was constantly necessary to scrape off the sediment. Third, the ocean became an unexpected helper, where some CO2 was deposited, turning into acetic acid. True, the acidity of the ocean was constantly growing from this, and it was necessary to use additives that lower it. Nothing worked. The air under the dome became thinner and thinner.
Soon, the bionauts faced another global problem. It turned out that a farm of 20 acres, with all modern land cultivation technologies, is capable of providing only 80% of the colonists' needs for food. Their daily diet (the same for women and men) was 1700 calories, which is normal for a sedentary office life, but too little given the amount of physical work that every inhabitant of the "Biosphere" had to do. At first, dinner was served in the form of a buffet, but soon because of this serious conflicts began to arise, and they began to put food on everyone's plate, measuring literally to a gram. People got up from the table hungry and constantly dreamed of the delicacies of the big world. Evening philosophical discussions replaced fantasies about what they would eat when they were released. Pantry,where bananas, the main delicacy of the bionauts, were kept, after a disgusting episode with anonymous looting, they had to be locked. Before giving the cleanings to the pigs, people carefully selected everything that could be eaten by themselves. Banana skins and peanuts were a delicacy.
One evening, Jane Poynter, in charge of the farm, confessed that she was aware of a future food crisis. A few months before check-in, she calculated that the bionauts would not have enough food, but under the influence of Dr. Walford with his ideas about a healthy diet, it was decided that this shortage would only be beneficial. The doctor, by the way, was the only one who did not complain of hunger. He continued to insist on the validity of his theory: after six months of the "starvation" diet, the blood condition of the bionauts had improved significantly, the cholesterol level dropped, and metabolism improved. People lost 10 to 18 percent of their body weight and looked remarkably young. They smiled at journalists and curious tourists from behind the glass, pretending nothing was happening. However, the bionauts were feeling worse and worse.
The summer of 1992 became especially difficult for the colonists. The rice paddies were destroyed by pests, so that their diet for several months consisted almost entirely of beans, sweet potatoes and carrots. Because of the excess beta-carotene, their skin turned orange.
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To this misfortune was added a particularly strong el-nino, due to which the sky over "Biosphere-2" was covered with clouds for almost the whole winter. This weakened the photosynthesis of the jungle (and hence the production of precious oxygen), and also reduced the already meager harvests.
The world around them lost its beauty and harmony. In the "desert", it rained regularly due to condensation on the ceiling, so that many plants rotted. Huge five-meter trees in the jungle suddenly became fragile, some fell, breaking everything around. (Subsequently, studying this phenomenon, scientists came to the conclusion that its cause lay in the absence of wind under the dome, which strengthens tree trunks in nature.) Runoffs in fish ponds clogged, and the fish became less and less. It was becoming increasingly difficult to combat the acidity of the ocean, which caused the death of corals. The fauna of the jungle and savannah was also inexorably shrinking. Only cockroaches and ants, which filled all biological niches, felt great. The biosphere was gradually dying.
The owners of paradise did not feel any better. The amount of oxygen in the atmosphere was constantly decreasing and reached 16% (at a rate of 20%). This is comparable to the thin air of the mountains, and usually the human body quickly adapts to this state. However, due to the general exhaustion of the colonists, altitude sickness did not let them go. The bionauts began to get tired quickly, their head was constantly spinning, they could no longer perform the work in the same volume. But in the most radical way, oxygen starvation affected their morale. Everyone felt depressed, sad, irritated. Every day scandals took place under the dome.
The main reason for the conflict was that Allen did not allow the bionauts to divulge their problems. He continued to pretend that the experiment was going according to plan. Half of the colonists (both captains, the PR director and the research supervisor, that is, the leadership) absolutely agreed with this position. They believed that they needed to stay under the dome for the planned two years at any cost. Four more bionauts argued that an urgent need to seek help from international scientists to understand why oxygen is disappearing. It would also be nice to order some air and food from outside.
Jane Poynter, leader of a group that wanted to ask for help, describes the beginning of the conflict as follows: “I cleaned the animal pens on the farm. My head was terribly dizzy, and I had to rest every minute. In the morning we talked about our situation, and I said that staying here and suffocating is some kind of sectarianism. I thought about all this, then turned around and saw Abigail, who was standing behind me. She had something in her mouth … The next second she spat in my face! I was at a loss and asked: "Why?" "Think for yourself," she answered, turned around and left."
Meanwhile, ordinary spectators, who came in whole buses every day to see what was happening in the giant human aquarium, did not even suspect what passions were boiling there. They lined up along the wall, sipping cola, chewing hot dogs, and people in futuristic costumes behind the glass seemed surprisingly spiritual to them, real heroes of science fiction books and visionaries. Although, by and large, the "visionaries" were simply very tired and hungry.
In the fall of 1992, the oxygen content under the dome dropped to 14%. Dr. Walford announced that he was resigning from his duties, as he was no longer able to add even two-digit numbers in his head. At night, the bionauts constantly woke up, as the active photosynthesis of plants stopped, the oxygen level dropped sharply and they began to suffocate. By this time, all vertebrates of the biosphere have died.
A year after the start of the experiment, Allen and Bass decided to depressurize the capsule and add oxygen to the atmosphere of the Biosphere. They also allowed the bionauts to use the emergency supplies of grain and vegetables from the seed storage. This greatly improved the general condition of the colonists. However, the two warring groups remained in a state of permanent war, trying not to even talk to each other.
On September 26, 1993, when the airlock was solemnly depressurized and people went outside, one could understand from their faces that the experiment had failed - the expulsion from paradise had taken place in full measure and forever. The biosphere turned out to be unfit for life.
Meanwhile, journalists, who learned about the addition of oxygen to the atmosphere, fanned a huge scandal out of this and dubbed the "Biosphere" a grandiose failure of the century.
So what was this mysterious oxygen problem? When scientists carefully examined the deplorable state of the destroyed domes, they came to the conclusion that the cement floors played a fatal role. Oxygen reacted with cement and deposited in the form of oxides on the walls. Bacteria in the soil turned out to be another active consumer of oxygen. For "Biosphere" they chose the most fertile chernozem, so that natural microelements in it would be enough for many years, but in such a land there were a lot of microorganisms that breathe oxygen in the same way as vertebrates. Scientific journals recognized these discoveries as the main and only achievements of the Biosphere.
On one of the inner walls of the “planet” there are still several lines written by one of the women: “Only here we felt how dependent on the surrounding nature. If there are no trees, we will have nothing to breathe, if the water is polluted, we will have nothing to drink."