Failure IS An Option

[chris_gerrib]

I'm not at work tomorrow (driving downstate) so this will probably be the last post before Christmas. For those of you that celebrate, Merry Christmas! (For all others, please enjoy your weekend.)

On to the topic of the day. Via Tobias Buckell, a man on fire, I read an interesting article about using the Biosphere 2 to study global warming.

Comments

[jordan179]

But Biosphere 2 was an interesting and useful failure. Part of the oxygen problem was caused by concrete in the structure. The concrete was reacting with CO2 and oxygen, creating calcium carbonate. In effect, the concrete was rusting. A lesson learned - no concrete for space habs.

Or, at least, if you're going to use concrete in a space hab, first drive the reaction to completion along the exposed surfaces. Note that concrete is probably doing the same thing in our own atmosphere, it's just that we have what amounts to an endless supply of oxygen there.

Biosphere 2 was in one sense a tougher test than a space hab, because a real space hab could even out dips or spikes in its elemental balances by either drawing upon inactive stored volatiles or importing/exporting volatiles. The degree of isolation in the biosphere was closer to what a long-duration (multi-year) space flight might require.