From: Billy Brown (ewbrownv@mindspring.com)
Date: Wed Jun 09 1999 - 23:33:50 MDT
On Wednesday, June 09, 1999 11:43 PM, Spike Jones [SMTP:spike66@ibm.net]
wrote:
> Thanks for bringing this up Emlyn. I hope everyone who speculates
> about a humaned mission to Mars will review the findings of the great
> Biosphere experiment. It is actually shocking to see how much mass
> and volume is evidently needed to keep even one person alive for
> extended periods of time in a closed system. I was quite discouraged
> when, with *aaaaall thaaaaat stuuuuuffff*, they *stilll* had a hell of a
> time. {8-[ spike
Well, you should keep in mind that Biosphere was more of an ideological
stunt than a serious engineering effort. They were trying to build a
closed _ecology_, while all we need for space missions is a closed life
support system. We don't need a zillion difffirent kinds of plants, bugs
and whatnot, we don't need 'natural' landscaping, and we sure as heck don't
need multiple environments. Besides, the idea of doing all the cultivation
by hand is stupid - if you can't mechanize it somehow, you're never going
to get anything else done.
A realistic effort would take a completely different approach. A lot of
the basic air and water recycling can be handled by conventional mechanical
systems, so do it that way. Maintain a garden (part conventional, part
hydroponic) for growing food crops, and use processed sewage as fertilizer.
Take along equipment for manufacturing fertilizers from local materials,
and you're set. This is still a pretty big setup, but it isn't anywhere
near as bad as Biosphere.
Billy Brown, MCSE+I
ewbrownv@mindspring.com
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