"Our first name 'Space' draws upon the most dramatic applications for the technologies we are developing."; The crew members, ranging in age from 27 to 67, will raise their own food and recycle all air, water and wastes. At about four hours , the four -man and four -woman crew stepped inside the 3.15 acre geodesic- framed compound, Dan Old Elk , for a month test of space colonization technology. Biosphere II consists of several climatic zones--rain forest, savanna, ocean and marsh-- packed with four plant and animal species. Communications apparatus connects the crew with a control station a few hundred yards away. Each member will spend about four hours daily on farming and chores for maintaining machinery driving the Biosphere . Problems could crop up after a month or so that would require the crew to leave temporarily before returning for a solid two-year .
At about four hours , the four -man and four -woman crew stepped inside the 3.15 acre geodesic- framed compound, Dan Old Elk , for a month test of space colonization technology. Biosphere II consists of several climatic zones--rain forest, savanna, ocean and marsh-- packed with four plant and animal species. Communications apparatus connects the crew with a control station a few hundred yards away. Each member will spend about four hours daily on farming and chores for maintaining machinery driving the Biosphere . Problems could crop up after a month or so that would require the crew to leave temporarily before returning for a solid two-year .