Biosphere Three Table Top

It is time to do another biosphere project, but it can start as a table top exercise. Step one is to model the International Space Station and it's inputs and outputs - including people - as well as their off-site systems (homes and families).

Then you expand it. Bring the families in and model additional capacity - including oxygen converters and additional energy.

Add in the essential aspects of ground control - for example - the personnel who create procedures for EVAs - and their families - then expand systems.

Input food needs food as if you were in space as well and estimate how much energy it would take to launch all of this.

People can come and go, as they do on the ISS.

Add medical staff and their families. Scale up.

Add food production within the environment - big scale up (on paper).

Water management is an interesting thing to model.

You get the idea. Keep expanding the system (on paper) until few inputs are necessary,

The last thing to add is air from natural systems. How big would this system have to be?

Map the energy savings from not having to launch out of the gravity well.  

At some point, do a physical mockup that grows in much the same way, with system switch-outs. Energy would come off the grid - people and material come and go, but are mapped - keeping the environment semi-closed and making updates to keep system healthy rather than limiting inputs.

Then start getting creative, looking for optimal size range for stability. Consider it an iterative engineering exercise rather than a controlled science experiment.

The journey of 1000 AUs starts with 1000 steps. This is also an essential exercise in designing more environmentally efficient solutions for Earth, including how to feed and water people.

An then there is gravity. We talked about those experiments in November 2021. This is another "must do" before we colonize - or even travel to Mars. The Moon is easy and can be resupplied with existing ISS Alpha Tech. To actually live on Mars, the exercise in this post is essential (unless yo are in the mood to waste money).