Abstract
This paper examines the Biosphere 2 Agriculture System, a two year experiment in the design and operation of a closed system agriculture. Several problems/challenges associated with bioregenerative life support system design are presented and discussed with repect to their applicability to long duration space missions such as would be required to establish and maintain a human presence on Mars or the moon. Specific examples as experienced during the Biosphere 2 experiment are presented including health effects of a low fat, calorie restricted, yet nutrient dense diet that resulted from a lower-than-expected crop production. Medical problems associated with oxygen depletion in Biosphere 2 are also discussed. Biosphere 2 is an interesting case study for closed bioregenerative life support systems and has many lessons to be learned for space exploration.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Poynter, J., Bearden, D. (1997). Biosphere 2: A Closed Bioregenerative Life Support System, an Analog for Long Duration Space Missions. In: Goto, E., Kurata, K., Hayashi, M., Sase, S. (eds) Plant Production in Closed Ecosystems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8889-8_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8889-8_16
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