Lead
In 1991, Russian scientists conducted an experiment called "Biosphere 2", for which they locked four men and four women in an enclosed space and asked them to live self-sufficiently for two years to simulate the environment in which humans live in outer space.
The purpose of this experiment is to prove that humans can not only create an "artificial biosphere" where life can live, but also explore and research it to prepare for future human life in outer space.
Eight young scientists live in this enclosed space for two years, during which they will grow plants, feed animals, sort household waste, treat it with equipment, and turn it into fresh air, water and soil.
This enclosed space, also known as Biosphere 2, is a man-made ecosystem that contains a variety of plants and animals, and simulates the ecological regions of the earth, and conducts various studies based on it.
But when oxygen concentrations drop, or when water cycle problems suddenly arise, how do these eight scientists respond?
1. Biosphere 2.
Biosphere 2 is the largest enclosed ecosystem ever created, a 20-meter-diameter, 15-meter-high cylinder containing an ecological ring with a diameter of 11 meters.
The entire ecosystem weighs more than 200 tons, and it was originally planned to be used as a prototype for humans to establish permanent settlements on the moon, but it was too large to be sent to the moon for a while.
Therefore, Russian scientists decided to put it on Earth for experiments and named it "Biosphere 2".
The walls of this enclosed space are made of two layers of steel, filled with high-strength polystyrene, which blocks radiation from the outside and acts as insulation.
Within this enclosed space, it is made up of 8 two-storey villas, each with its own doors and windows, which can maintain the privacy of the living space and allow the air to circulate freely.
Each cottage has a device for growing plants, a device for purifying the air, a device for treating household waste, and a device for wastewater treatment, in order to simulate the living environment of human beings in outer space.
The eight villas represent eight different ecological regions, which are polar regions, tropical regions, marine environments, grassland areas, wetland areas, desert areas and human settlements.
These experiences will play an important guiding role in the future exploration of outer space and the construction of the "artificial biosphere", and will also contribute to the future life of human beings moving to outer space.
Second, there is a problem.
On the day they entered the enclosed environment, the oxygen concentration in the ecosystem began to drop, leaving the eight scientists in a panic that they did not know why or how to solve the problem.
In order to conduct research, they dismantled the oxygen concentration detector in the ecological ring, but this did not find the problem, but dismantled the oxygen concentration detector, so with their help, another scientist conducted research and finally found the problem.
It turned out that this problem appeared on the water in the ecological ring, because they did not test the water for a while, so they did not find the problem, and eventually led to the growth of a lot of microorganisms in the water, they used up the oxygen in the water, resulting in a decrease in the oxygen concentration in the ecological ring.
When eight scientists identified the problem, they immediately treated the water and developed ways to prevent the same problem in the future, and the problem never reappeared.
However, after some time, another problem began to arise within the ecosystem, this time, the problem of the water cycle.
Because the experimenters lived in the ecological ring for a long time, the oxygen concentration in the ecological ring continued to decline, and the eight scientists could only adjust the oxygen concentration in the ecological ring, but this could only solve part of the problem, and some of the problems needed to be solved fundamentally, so they decided to use part of the water for electrolysis oxygen production.
Thanks to their advanced equipment and experience, the problem did not take long, and the eight scientists quickly used a portion of the water for electrolysis to produce oxygen and restored the oxygen concentration in the air to normal values.
After two years, the water in the ecosystem had become dirty, so they purified the water and added a certain amount of fertilizer to meet the needs of the plants.
During this period, there were also some plants that died because they did not get enough sunlight, so 8 scientists buried the dead plants in the soil, and then treated the soil, and eventually, the seeds of these plants also began to germinate and grow.
However, because the oxygen in the ecosystem has not fully met the needs of the animals and plants in the ecosystem, they electrolyzed a part of the water to produce oxygen, and in the end, they finally spent these two years, and when they left the ecosystem, eight scientists summarized it, but the experiment ended in failure.
III. Conclusion.
Although this experiment ended in failure, it has made an important contribution to the exploration and improvement of "artificial ecosystems" in the future.
Human exploration and migration to outer space has always been a dream, and through such experiments, human beings can better understand and solve the problems that may be faced in outer space, which will also help the environment for human beings to survive in outer space in the future.
Every exploration of human beings is a valuable experience, and they can continue to improve and explore on the basis of the failures of their predecessors, which will also bring a glimmer of hope for the future life of human beings in outer space.
In addition, these experiments can also protect the ecological environment on the earth, because the ecosystem on the earth is very similar to the ecosystem in outer space, so through these experiments, human beings can have a deeper understanding of the balance and stability of the ecosystem.
This is of great significance for ecological protection on Earth, and these experiences can also provide reference for human beings when they migrate to outer space in the future, which is a good thing to kill two birds with one stone.
In the future, human technology will be more developed, and human wisdom will be more improved, which will provide more possibilities for human exploration of outer space and creation of "artificial ecosystems", and look forward to the leap brought by future science and technology.
epilogue
"The dream of mankind is the sea of stars, and our dream is the infinite universe".
In the past, human beings were on the verge of success and had never stepped out of the earth, but now human beings will step out of the earth and explore the unknown sea of stars, maybe this will be a glorious century, maybe it will be a failed century, but, no matter what, we will not stop moving forward, because our dream is an infinite universe.