BIOSPHERE II: A lesson for Mars colonization?

Lately, we’ve been seeing a lot of sensational news about the end of times, prophecies, and apocalyptic scenarios, which have led some to consider securing a plot of land on Mars. But what makes us ( us, as in Elon Musk ) believe we can colonize Mars? And if that’s the case, are we even capable of taking up the Biosphere II project?

I first encountered Biosphere II in Elizabeth Kolbert's book, "The Sixth Extinction". It was named as a second world on Earth, built to prove that humanity could survive on Mars. In the late 1980s, billionaire Edward Bass funded this project, which was constructed on three hectares of land in Arizona. The infrastructure was made entirely of glass and designed like a stepped pyramid. Within its walls, they created a tropical rainforest, a sea with coral reefs, mangroves, savannah, and agricultural zones. There was also a technosphere, a system designed to manage air, water, and waste

            The Ocean of Biosphere II.  

Eight individuals four men and four women, known as “biospherians”, claimed to have lived in this controlled environment for two years. They grew their own food, drank the water produced inside, and breathed recycled air, entirely cut off from the outside world. At least, that’s what they said. Kolbert explains that Biosphere II collapsed in 1995. You might wonder, what went wrong?

The reasons cited for its failure include: 

1. Difficulty in manipulating water bodies, particularly ocean waves.

2. High levels of carbon dioxide leading to ocean acidification, coral bleaching, and the death of fish.

3. Oxygen depletion.

4. The desert environment turning too wet.

5. An explosion in the populations of ants and cockroaches.

6. Inadequate food production.

This is just a glimpse of what the major issues were. There are claims that the biospherians secretly received food from the outside and that oxygen was injected to keep them alive. This raises the possibility that Biosphere II was, in fact, a scam.

If we can’t even manage to sustain a project like Biosphere II on Earth with all the resources and technology at our disposal, how can we expect to colonize Mars? If SpaceX’s motto is to make life multiplanetary, why not take on Biosphere II ? Perhaps it's time for us to start conserving what's left on earth, than investing our resources on something unrealistic.

Bibliography : 

Kolbert, E. (2014). The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.

https://youtu.be/3gXjvXzi13c?si=hJZohsZaEyQJUcPJ

https://biosphere2.org/research/under-glass-systems