At 10 am , the four - man and four - woman crew stepped inside the 3.15 acre geodesic- framed compound , Biosphere II , for a two - year test of space colonization technology . ; The four-man, four-woman group has two people from England, one from Belgium and five from the United States. Biosphere II consists of several climatic zones -- rain forest , savanna , ocean and marsh-- packed with 3,800 plant and animal species . Communications equipment 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 force the crew to leave temporarily before returning for a solid two years .
At 10 am , the four - man and four - woman crew stepped inside the 3.15 acre geodesic- framed compound , Biosphere II , for a two - year test of space colonization technology . Biosphere II consists of several climatic zones -- rain forest , savanna , ocean and marsh-- packed with 3,800 plant and animal species . Communications equipment 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 force the crew to leave temporarily before returning for a solid two years .