Biosphere 2, Arizona - Ghost Towns of Arizona and Surrounding States

Oddities, Tucson, Arizona

Biosphere 2
The biosphere is definitely a great explore if you are in the Tucson area. This place seems to be overlooked but has a lot of neat areas to see. They have multiple rooms that are temperature controlled; for instance one chamber is around 105+ degrees with a very dry climate and the next chamber is wet like in the rainforest in South America. Pretty awesome!

History:
Biosphere 2 is a 3.15-acre structure originally built to be a man-made, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona (USA) by Space Biosphere Ventures, a joint venture whose principal officers were John P. Allen, inventor and Executive Director, and Margret Augustine, CEO. Constructed between 1987 and 1991, it was used to explore the complex web of interactions within life systems in a structure that included five areas based on natural biomes and an agricultural area and human living/working space to study the interactions between humans, farming and technology with the rest of nature.

It also explored the possible use of closed biospheres in space colonization, and allowed the study and manipulation of a biosphere without harming Earth’s. The name comes from Earth’s biosphere, Biosphere 1, Earth’s life system and the only biosphere currently known. Funding for the project came primarily from the joint venture’s financial partner, Ed Bass’ Decisions Investment, and cost $200 million from 1985 to 2007, including land, support research greenhouses, test module and staff facilities.