IT WENT wrong fast. Biosphere 2 was meant to be a self-sufficient colony in the Arizona desert, stocked with plants and animals that could sustain eight people for two years. But the bold project soon went awry. Unanticipated difficulties quickly undermined its enclosed ecosystem, leaving the 鈥渃olonists鈥� suffocating and starving.
Their experience provides a chastening case study for anyone planning off-Earth colonies. But it was instructive, too. It taught us about ecosystem engineering, and we will learn more as research resumes in the revitalised complex (see 鈥�Biosphere 2: Saving the world within a world鈥�). Those aiming to settle other planets, notably Mars, will be much better informed than the 鈥淏iospherians鈥�.
There鈥檚 another lesson to be learned. The squabbling of the claustrophobic and fractious Biosphere 2 crew is credited as part of the inspiration for the TV show Big Brother. At least one of the mooted Martian settlement projects has proposed funding the trip using a reality TV show. But if Biosphere 2鈥檚 lofty ideals descended so swiftly into soap opera, one has to wonder where a project that begins with that premise might end up.
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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淒on鈥檛 plant seeds of failure鈥�
