From: CurtAdams@aol.com
Date: Wed Mar 31 1999 - 09:26:03 MST
In a message dated 99-03-31 10:55:13 EST, bbrown@conemsco.com (Billy Brown)
writes:
> As an interesting note, I will point out that no one has ever even come
> close to building a real, completely closed, indefinite duration life
> support system. Recycling air and water has been done, but no one even
> tries to tackle the food production problem.
Actually Biosphere 2 did. The pilot experiment worked fine; the main
Biosphere
would probably have worked too except for the humorous result of building
scenery and artifical landscape. They used concrete, which sucked the CO2
out of the air by a chemical reaction. The shortage of CO2 got replaced by
the decomposers in the soil, which used up the oxygen in the process.
The cost of the biosphere, however, isn't promising. $300 million for six
people
is a lot. Even accounting for the fact that 5/6 was ecological experiments
it's
still nearly 10 million per person, and that's on Earth, even.
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