The Sad State of Biosphere 2, Sixteen Years Later


Biosphere 2 was an ambitious project to create a self-sustaining gigantic sealed structure where people can live indefinitely. It ended up as a failure in many ways. Sixteen years after the last inhabitants left, photographer Noah Sheldon captured the current state with a series of eerie and captivating photos.

Click on image for a larger view.

Images copyright Noah Sheldon

Built in just under four years and completed in 1991, Biosphere 2 was intended to study five areas of the natural biomes, their agricultural area, and to observe our living/working space. Specifically how we interact with each other under such confined circumstances.

Unfortunately the research was never completed.

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09.26.2010
bryce
I was just at Biosphere 2 *yesterday* - it's now run by the University of Arizona and open to the public for tours. The university does research there, and tourism is a big part of where they get their income. My oldest daughter and I are volunteers there. It is far from an "eerie" and abandoned site as it's made out to be here. The original experiment may have been a "failure" - honestly, if real scientists where to do this kind of experiment, they would NOT do it the way it was done (but it would also be smaller and less glamorous) - but the structure itself is a very impressive engineering feat, and it's takeover by the UofA has given it new life, and allowed this amazing structure to be utilized for real, hard science - and educational outreach to the public - about science, ecology, and environmental issues like global warming, and pollution. - bryce 03dashk64 at gmail.com (ignore my yahoo address - don't use it anymore)
08.05.2010
hiroo yamagata
Thanks for this. I went there a long time ago and sometimes wondered about what happened to it. I guess that Biosphere II is something that might spark the imagination of a Pynchon fan.
06.30.2010
Linda
What a lot of misinformation is here interspersed with a little bit of truth! If you are really in interested in this subject, read "Me and the Biospheres: A Memoir by the Inventor of Biosphere 2." Yes, there was an inventor, namely polymath John Allen, and his remarkable and exciting true story is available. It was published last year by Synergetic Press and won the Ben Franklin Award for autobiography this year.
02.17.2010
Pilar
wait, what about those two guys who got trapped in there accidentally during the first mission?
02.17.2010
Image Stealer
I'm gonna post these pics on my website and not give any credit to anyone. It's gonna be AWESOME!!!
It feels good to write.

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