Dec 31st - Biosphere 2

This morning we went to Biosphere 2. It is an amazing facility located maybe 20 miles north of Tucson. You can read about it at http://www.b2science.org/ or at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

Kathy and I thought some of the stuff we heard on the tour was some tree hugger propaganda and we did some more reading. A lot of what we heard was about what was going on now that that the facility is no longer being used as a habitat, that part was probably OK. We also heard some about the original "missions", where people were sealed into the unit. The first group for 2 years and the second group for around 7 months. A LOT of what we heard about the missions was baloney.

The place is an engineering marvel. When sealed the biosphere loses less air (based on percentage) than the space shuttle. This is an astounding claim but I've found it stated several places, and it is a LOT less.

One of the impressive areas was the "lungs". See the photo below. The legs you see are attached to a 16 ton aluminum disc. (They are only used for maintenance purposes) The black around the disk is 4 tons of hypalon (sp?). The hypalon is sealed to the disc and to the perimeter wall, which is a stainless steel lined concrete cylinder. The floor is also a thin sheet of stainless steel over concrete. When the biosphere is sealed and the air temp changes the air volume changes. This, and its twin in another lung, acts as a large deaphragm as is moves up and down. The biosphere air enters this area via a tunnel that we walked down. The area above the diaphragm is covered by a dome but open to the atmosphere. While we were down there the guide opened a sealed door and you could actually see the aluminum disc descending at the air went out the door. It was a very impressive sight.

 Enough about the biosphere. On to important stuff. When we got back to Tucson we happened across El Guero Canteno's. What a "fast food" restaurant. They had 3 cashiers taking orders, similar to a McDonalds. You found a table and waited until your number was called, and posted on a lighted sign. Our number was 35. While we were their the number when past 100 and was up to 6.

 I think Kathy was still being amazed at all the happenings. These are our hot dogs. They are in some type of strange bun that was really good. They come with jalapeno sauce, tomatoes, onions, mustard, etc. They were awesome!

On the way home from the restaurant we had to stop at a Costco Kathy saw on the way out in the morning. She hasn't had a Costco "fix" for quite awhile <grin>.

When we got back home we went up to the pool. The pool is small but the water was warm. Kathy spent time in both the pool and the spa. I just stayed in the pool. It was a very enjoyable 40 minutes. After that we went back to our RV and spent the remainder of the day.

We have watched a couple of movies, DVD's, and I don't think either of us will be up at midnight.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.