A $30 million gift from the Philecology Foundation, founded by Edward P. Bass, funds Bisophere 2 operations and some research projects. Other grants and awards, primarily from the National Science Foundation, also support research activities.
In the 1800s, the Biosphere 2 property was part of the Samaniego's CDO Ranch. After several changes of ownership, it became a conference center in the 1960s and 1970s, first for Motorola, then for The University of Arizona. Space Biospheres Ventures, bankrolled by Bass, bought the property in 1984 and began construction of the current facility in 1986 to research and develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology. Two missions, between 1991 and 1994, sealed Biospherians inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability. Behind this highly public exercise was useful research that helped further ecological understanding. An insider’s perspective on this experiment is provided by Jane Poynter, a veteran of Mission I, in The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Bisophere 2.
Biosphere 2 facility
- 3.14 acre Biosphere facility
- 7,200,000 cubic feet of sealed glass, 6,500 windows
- 91 feet at highest point
- sealed from the earth below by a 500-ton welded stainless steel liner
- 40-acre campus
- 300,000 sq. ft. of administrative offices, classrooms, labs, conference center, housing
Ecosystems under glass
- Ocean with coral reef
- Mangrove wetlands
- Tropical rainforest
- Savannah grassland
- Fog desert
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