First thing this morning Bernie got out the tin snips and clipped off that flap that was hanging off the muffler on the Jeep. It’ll probably rust out faster now, but we’ll deal with that when the time comes.

No sooner had he finished that then it began to rain, and rained for a few hours. Just a light rain, enough to be annoying. So we decided to go do something indoors. The Biosphere 2 is not too far from here. We had seen it before, but thought it was worth another visit.

Had to gas up first. We were happy to see the price continues to drop!

$1.89

In the late 1980’s Biosphere 2 was built to research and develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology. There were two closure experiments in the 1990’s where the structure was sealed with researchers living inside. The first experiment ran for two years, the second for six months. Since that time ownership of Biosphere 2 has changed a few times and is currently owned by the University of Arizona.  Oh, in case you are wondering, Biosphere 1 is the planet Earth.

Finding wildlife has been a challenge so we spotted this deer in the parking lot we tried to get a picture. She didn’t let us get very close before she ran off.

Biosphere 2

After watching a 12 minute video about the history of Biosphere 2 a guide led us through the different zones within the facility. Included was a rainforest, ocean, desert. During the time researchers were sealed in here they also had some animals and some crop areas for the food to sustain them.

Rainforest

Ocean

Experiments continue to be made here.

Experiment Station

Since the Biosphere is a sealed facility they had to accommodate for the air pressure changes as the temperature changed. They have two large rooms they call “lungs”, with a large black flexible membrane that went up as the pressure increased with the warm air and lowered itself down when the pressure decreased as the air cooled. If they didn’t do this the air pressure could have blown out the glass.

• Gasoline:  $28 @ $1.89
• Lodging:   $30
• Tour Fee:  $36