European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 12, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Ultimate survival desert dreamers build a Man made world by William j. Broad new York times n a High plateau in the Arizona desert construction has begun on a $30 million project designed to test the feasibility of self sustaining manned bases on the Moon or Mars. Or on an Earth ravaged by nuclear War. When the prototype biosphere ii Structure is completed in 1989. Its developers say eight volunteers will be sealed inside for two years Cut off from everything except sunlight. They will become part of an intricate ecosystem that includes miniature oceans rain forests Marshlands and deserts All contained in an airtight Shell of steel and Glass. Everything in this Man made world will be recycled. Carbon dioxide exhaled by humans will be used by plants while oxygen Given off by the plants will revitalize the air for human breathing. Human wastes will provide fertilizer for land crops and feed algae bacteria and water plants which in turn will feed fish. The trick which has never been accomplished on such a grand scale is to keep All the life cycles balanced Well enough to avoid an ecological disaster. Biosphere ii its creators consider the Earth itself to be biosphere i is still mostly a dream although the Arizona site is alive with Crews working to design and test prototype parts of the proposed 2.25-acre Structure. Who is putting up $30 million for such a venture visitors to the space biosphere ventures site in Arizona Are Given brochures outlining a Complex web of management and venture capital concerns but in fact the financial Power behind the vision is one Man Edward p. Bass the Maverick son of a multimillion Dollar Texas Oil family. Bass whose interests include communes and survivalist groups is chairman of decisions team ltd., which controls in addition to space biosphere ventures a 300,000-acre ranch in the australian Outback a hotel in Katmandu Nepal and caravan of creams a multimillion Dollar Avant Garde performing arts Center in fort Worth Tex. Despite its somewhat eccentric origins the biosphere ii project is generally praised for its originality by scientists familiar with the difficulties of life support systems although they say serious questions remain about its feasibility. Crous Cllon of bks Phi ii they re being bold enough to take that first step said . Wolverton a senior scientist with the National space technology laboratories of the National aeronautics and space administration near Bay St. Louis miss. Wolverton Tias worked extensively on biological support systems for spaceships. James h. Bred chief of biological systems research at Nasa Headquarters in Washington said it will be a very interesting piece of technology. There will be Many lessons for us in this kind of  space biosphere ventures has also caught the Eye of the National commission on space a presidential group assessing the future of the american space program. Its report made Public in june envisions people living on the Moon and Mars within the next 50 years. To explore and Settle the inner solar system we must develop biosphere says the report which lauds the Tucson project. Biosphere ii is being developed on a 2,500-Acie ranch in the Foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains about 10 Miles irom the town of Oracle. It is an area of desolate Beauty that abounds in Yucca Mesquite and prickly Pear. Already operating at the site Are several spacious greenhouses where the crop and fish species Are being selected for the two year test. Waste treatment systems that would use bacteria and other organisms to break Down animal wastes Are also being tested. In addition the site has several modern buildings that provide living quarters for project members and facilities for scientific research including a Large tissue culture Laboratory. Tissue culture can be used to quickly propagate plants from tiny groups of cells a critical requirement for the residents of the biosphere who must be ready if some unforeseen disease wipes out existing crops. We re trying to develop strains that Are disease resistant said Stephen storm a horticulturalists who Heads the tissue culture Laboratory. Already studies have identified design problems for the Experiment. One of the biggest challenges involves the very air inside the air tight Structure. Workers Are building Large prototype Bellows that Are intended to compensate for the expansion of the air under the desert Sun and its subsequent contraction in the Cool nights. They Are also building a Small Metal framed Structure to evaluate different life support systems nutria note. Solid waste feed. Carbon botox to oxygen water water fraction 1 i materials Are to be recycled to meet human Needt of to there ii Laht Kantt types of Glass and glazing for the Large habitat. Most interesting of All 12 candidates Are also at the site competing to be chosen As biospheric is the eight people who will be sealed in the Complex. They Are learning skills needed for survival in an artificial environment. We want a diverse Range of skills both for research and management said Kathleen Dyhr administrative director of space biosphere ventures. Some of the volunteers have backgrounds in botany animal husbandry horticulture and  the safety in the system is its complexity said Margaret Augustine project director of space biosphere and the person who will select the participants. She said the group s approach was synergistic in which each living part of the ecosystem works with every other to achieve a delicate balance in contrast to reductionist life support systems developed by the space Agency which for years have focused on mimicking human life support systems through chemical and mechanical Means. Space biosphere ventures has hired prestigious scientific Talent to help build and run the project including the smithsonian institution s Marine systems Laboratory the new York botanical Garden s Institute of economic botany and the University of Arizona s environmental research Laboratory. By the time biosphere ii closes Well have run thousands of experiments on everything from Glass sealants to computer models of the Overall dynamics said Carl n. Hodges director of the University Laboratory. He said space biosphere ventures was paying the lab More than $1 million a year for its work. It s close to being our biggest project he said. Despite the advances made so far some scientists voice doubts about the project s feasibility. One question is whether it s big enough said bred of Nasa noting that the most Complex sealed ecosystem to Date has been a simple sphere containing shrimp and it May turn out that the environment will not have enough diversity. It May turn out they have to do a lot of engineering and mechanical intervention to make it  Bredt also expressed scepticism As to whether such Large heavy structures would Ever exist on other planets. Eventually you have to get Back to the brute realities of having to launch space systems he said. If the biosphere ii Experiment is successful by 1992 space biosphere ventures Hopes to begin to produce and Market biosphere around the world. Perhaps the most controversial use for commercial biosphere is As refuges where a few people could be protected from the effects of a nuclear Winter the prolonged cold and darkness that some scientists say would follow a nuclear War. 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