By Michael Winerip | The New York Times
In the fall of 1991, eight men and women marched into a glass and steel complex that covered three acres in the Arizona desert and was known as Biosphere 2. Their mission: to test whether they could be self-sustaining in this sealed-off environment, with hope that the model would someday be replicated to colonize outer space.
They wore “Star Trek”-style jump suits, which, depending on your view of the grand experiment, either made them look very scientific or like inmates at the county jail.
Either way, there was serious intent and money behind the project, $150 million, underwritten by Edward Bass, environmentalist heir to a Texas oil fortune.
This Retro Report video looks back to the ideas behind the ambitious experiment, sorting out what was worthwhile science and what was hucksterism, and what happened once the rest of the world moved on.
The original idea was that the inhabitants would grow all their own food, and that the wilderness areas would naturally recycle their air and water. In Discover magazine the project was called the most exciting science venture since man landed on the moon.
