Creation
of a closed system is a difficult and important scientific problem.
Each year the influence of the civilization on
the environment is increasing, and the results of this influence are
unpredictable. We feel it frequently, and not only in the form polluted
air, contaminated rivers and soils. Nowadays the scientists speak about
global consequences for all our Earth. We hear more often about the rising
level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the Earth, about the
greenhouse effect which can cause global warming and melting of the ices,
rising of the water level in the ocean and flooding of large land surface
territories. So there is a need to forecast the influence of human
activity factors on the biosphere of our Earth.
Now it is clear why it was so necessary to make a
model of our biosphere: to build a system which would be absolutely
isolated from the outside and have its own atmosphere, its own soil,
animals and plants, namely a mini-model of our Earth. Only sunlight enters
the biosystem, just like on the Earth. Practically nothing from the space
enters into our biosphere except sunlight and heat. Having modeled such a
MiniWorld, it would be possible to start experiments, for example,
increase the level of carbon dioxide or other substances and observe the
effects.
Besides, it is interesting how this another
biosphere will develop in the future without our interference.
This experiment would definitely be useful for
construction of human settlements on other planets and on the Moon, for
long-distance space flights, such as to the Mars, etc.
The creator of the biosphere doctrine was a Russian scientist, academician
Vladimir Vernadsky. It was him who introduced the term "Biosphere".
"The surface of our planet and its biosphere separate our Earth from
its cosmic environment… It is the only place on Earth , where one can
find life", he wrote in 1926.
The first sealed biosystem, where people could
live, was made in the USSR in the 1970s in the suburbs of Krasnoyarsk in
Siberia, Russia. This construction was called BIOS. Generally, the
scientists lived inside as long as it could take to get to the Mars -
maximum 5 months. But one of the scientists spent 13 months inside.
Multiple plants produced oxygen, wheat grew
inside and people baked bread. At the same time, in Moscow, in the
institute of Oceanology named after Shirshov, a team headed by V. S.
Yastrebov (who at that time was the director of the institute) developed a
system enabling people to live and work under water, and built a submarine
house called "Chernomor" (Black Sea habitat).
Similar research was undertaken in the USA at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The most famous experiment was conducted in the USA and called Biosphere 2
(Biosphere 1 is the Earth).
Biosphere 2 was a closed system
located in Oracle, Arizona. The glass and steel sealed building covered
3.15 acres and contained several types of environment including rain
forest, savanna, desert, marsh, ocean, intensive agriculture and human
apartments.
On September 26, 1991 8 volunteers ( four women
and four men) entered Biosphere 2 and spent 2 years there isolated from
the outside world. On September 26, 1993 the experiment was over.
Now
Biosphere 2 is a department of Columbia University and place of scientific
and academic research.
The special technology used in the creation of
AquaWorld was developed on the basis of this and others researches.
The minisystems have undergone a ten day
experiment on the American Space Shuttle and two four month experiments on
board of the Russian Space Station MIR.
