[FRIAM] Biospheres

[Steve Smith]

Of Bannon, and Biospheres and Barking Arks....

FWIW, John Allen, as  the creative force behind Biosphere II founded 
Synergia Ranch just outside Santa Fe in 1969 as part of a 
counter-culture movement.  A satellite version was established outside 
Oracle AZ soon after which became the site and precursor to Biosphere 
II.   I believe Allen may still reside at Synergia-NM with some other 
"elders" of the movement over the years.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Allen

as a young(er) man even he was a significant part of:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_of_All_Possibilities

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Ecotechnics

I think it was discussed here the film Spaceship_Earth_(film) 
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth_(film)> when it came out 
in 2020 on all things related and I also think Stephen G.  visited 
Synergia about that time?  Has a contact there?

For more background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2... for 
morbid entertainment, note that *Steve Bannon* (yes that one) was 
instrumental in the second attempt (and rapid crash) made there to force 
the concept to work in spite of itself.

<RambleTangent>

The 60's EcoTechnics institute's flagship project was the handbuilt 
research vessel Heraclitus which has sailed every ocean (except artic) 
and visited every continent (including Antarctic).

    https://www.factum-arte.com/pag/643/rebuilding-the-heraclitus-vessel

with ocean going vessels something of a "biosphere" excepting the air 
you breathe and the fish you might catch being the main inputs. maybe 
rainwater caught or saltwater distilled, some solar/wind/water energy 
captured.

<RambleTangent#2>

I only know (some) of this because of the "friends of SFx" colleagues in 
Wales Matt and Janire did a big project to document a contemporary 
project "early in its voyages" called the Arka Kinari...  A bit more 
arts/social, less research but "of the spirit".  They were in the middle 
of the Pacific when COVID hit and had to play self-sufficient for months 
until they could find a moorage that would allow them in.   They were 
(mostly) prepared.

    https://openexhibits.org/exhibit-design/ghosts-in-armour-at-santa-fe-complex/4863/

    https://www.cultvr.cymru/events/the-voyage-of-arka-kinari-documentary-film-2/

Matt and Janire are the heavy lifters onn the project to convert 1 of 4 
theaters in Los Alamos to an Immersive Space.   Guerin and I are 
involved in various capacities...  this is a redux of the project I left 
LANL 16 years ago (building an immersive theater/facility in the 
community outside the fence) which failed for non-technical reasons.  
I'd be the heavy lifter myself if I could lift anything heavy....   
buh!   But it is good to watch it (finally) bear fruit or blossom or 
whatever the metaphor is...

    https://sala.losalamos.com/phase2/

will the free associative rambling never stop? </RambleStop>



On 3/1/24 12:46 PM, Jochen Fromm wrote:
> Interesting points. Life in Antartica and on the ISS is only possible 
> because of continuous supplies from the outside. Biosphere 2 showed 
> all the problems that arise for example on Moon or Mars if there are 
> no such supplies: lack of oxygen, lack of food and lack of clean water
> https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jul/13/spaceship-earth-arizona-biosphere-2-lockdown
>
> Robots on the other hand have no problems surviving on Mars: 
> Curiosity, Spirit, Perseverance, ... have proven they can survive in 
> harsh and hostile conditions. Maybe we are like fish 400 million years 
> ago wondering if life outside the ocean is possible. The answer would 
> have been yes, but not for fish.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_rover
>
> -J.
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Steve Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com>
> Date: 3/1/24 7:26 PM (GMT+01:00)
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Biospheres
>
> Thanks for this prompt.  I recently tripped over:
>
> https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/martians-wanted-nasa-opens-call-for-simulated-yearlong-mars-mission/
>
> and was reminded of my maunderings when Musk first stated his 
> aspirations for Mars colonization acutely or eloquently enough to 
> convince me he was serious, not just attention-seeking.
>
>  1. Antartica has been continuously "colonized" for about 100 years,
>     but by various international scientific researchers at extremely
>     well funded (per capita) habitats.   The conditions there (for the
>     most part) are *much* more welcome to human life and definitely
>     easier to supply.
>  2. Seafloor habitats (these were a rage to consider in the 50s and
>     60s, but have lost popularity) seem at least as welcoming as
>     Antartica and (for the most part) nicely buffered from wild
>     climactic and weather shifts?   Also easier to resupply from
>     "topside"?    I don't know how deep you have to go to get the
>     "buffering" I mentioned, but certainly not Titanic explorer
>     implosion depths.   Kurzweil recently claimed a synthetic
>     "hemoglobin" replacement/supplement (suggested dosage == 50/50 mix
>     with natural) which would gift the average human something like 6
>     hours without breathing?   Add oxy/rebreather tech and you have
>     homo aquatic methinks?    Don't know about pressure...  scuba
>     wonks anyone?
>  3. Asteroid belting seems to make much more sense for gravitational
>     and resource acquisition reasons?   Lots of basic needs available
>     "somewhere" in the same gravity well
>     (Ice/Oxygen-compounds/metals?).  If you gotta live indoors most of
>     the time, why not orbiting in a resource rich environment where
>     you never have to dig too deep for molecular resource stock and
>     all travel is frictionless and low-gravity-gradient?   Atmosphere
>     is good for cosmic shielding but not as good as planetary magnetic
>     field?
>  4. Biosphere/II were part of a big movement as I came of age and
>     lived within 100-200 miles of the project at the time... It looked
>     like a folly and rich-person's conceit at the time... little did I
>     know what would follow!
>  5. Various ideas around Arcologies, starting with the (also Arizona
>     Desert) Arcosanti (Paolo Soleri) and made totally over the top
>     (the Saudis' Line City of Noem) have intrigued me, and since any
>     moon/mars/europa colony we try to build will be much more
>     resource-demanding and personally and external-supply restricted,
>     I feel like at-worst we should be exploring those concepts while
>     Musk tries to fling a million people to Mars (many of them is
>     direct descendents?  Maybe a a few thousand vials of his frozen
>     sperm or with the Alabama nonsense, a few thousand IVF embryos of
>     his parentage (and gawdess knows whose ova?) for genetic diversity?
>
> It all (Mars/Moon/Asteroid Belt colonization) strikes me as being 
> fueled by too much the GOFF (good old fashioned futurism) too many of 
> us boomers and some GenX were raised on.
>
> If Musk thinks the "woke mind virus" is the earth's (or humanity's) 
> biggest threat, I don't know how he thinks colonizing Mars will 
> help.   Some strange resonance with the aspirations of the break-away 
> European Colonies of the Age of Exploration?  How much of the Americas 
> was colonized with this desire to leave the "old country" baggage 
> behind, only to repeat the same mistakes or trip over the 
> Utopia/Dystopia duality? And then we have to (almost exclusively 
> failed, and usually catastrophically) cults and communes of the 
> current era.
>
> I avoided reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars series 
> for the longest time, not being a big fan of Space Opera, but when he 
> hooked me on his climate disaster novels (Washington DC, California 
> settings, then his magnum opus a few years ago Ministry for the 
> Future) I went ahead and let him update me on the Barsoomian conceits 
> I was raised on as a pre-teen.    His Terraforming Mars 
> (red/green/blue Mars) stuff was pretty good with lots of tech 
> exploration of just how do you survive on mars-as-it-is then get 
> enough water to the surface to start greening up some parts, then yet 
> enough more water to start having surface water.   I forget the tech 
> details now, but suffice it to say I was mildly convinced he had 
> researched the basic physics and ideated honestly on the engineering 
> challenges.   Of course the social/economic/political implications 
> interested me more.  He played around in that space well.
>
> I'm not convinced we have any business colonizing Mars (or any Solar 
> planetary body really) soon.   Seems like we have an excellent 
> Goldilocks Zone planet whose nurturance (or at least our multi-billion 
> year evolution/adaption/co-evolution to/with it) is a fine fit if we 
> could just "cool our jets" (literally and figuratively) enough to keep 
> the keep the oscillations we are driving into it's medium term 
> (centuries?) stability so thoughtlessly.  Drill Baby Drill!
>
> I just started watching the series "the Expanse" which as best I can 
> tell is constrained to the general range I've described of 
> Earth/Mars/Belt...   it seems pretty long on tech and special effects 
> and flashy weapons and space-collisions and bad blood/intentions, and 
> really weak on any deference to the realities of orbital mechanics and 
> semi-absurdity of the implied economics (measured in delta-V?) but I 
> am doing this to be conversant with a good friend.   What we both 
> agreed on was that by the time our tech/energetics support that kind 
> of free-ranging through the middle of the solar system, genetic 
> engineering and cybernetic tech, you would at least expect the humans 
> going about all this spacefaring to be *tiny*, maybe giant brains with 
> minimal bodies and probably reverting to grasping feet/toes and maybe 
> throw (back) in an articulating tail for balance in 0G and an extra 
> gripper/poker?    A 30lb human with a 2-3lb brain is a lot more  
> obvious than the 150-300 lb'rs shown on the show.   The metabolic 
> needs just don't make sense?   replace a bunch of the 
> muscle/bone/pumps/fluids of a human body with cyber versions and the 
> "engineering" support/maintenance/repair becomes more suitable to the 
> environment.   Maybe the brain/mind/spirit upload business will come 
> about eventually, then the burden of the human-on-board become even 
> more well aligned with other systems?   Or maybe we go the other way 
> and engineer our bodies to become the space-ships...  let organic 
> chemistries and biomechanics and biomaterials do all the work of 
> radiation shielding, vacuum resisting, thermal management, etc.   
> might be a bit much to do 
> ion-thrusters/chemical-rockets/nuclear-rockets with bio-materials?   
> Light Sails! Nicholas van Rjin/ Falkayne anyone?  James Blish?   Ian 
> Banks?
>
> Mumble,
>
>  -S
>
> On 3/1/24 10:04 AM, Jochen Fromm wrote:
>> Corentin de Chatelperron and Caroline Pultz tried to live for 120 
>> days in the Mexican desert self sufficiently, growing their own food. 
>> Using their own desalination machines they generated fresh water for 
>> the plants and themselves
>> https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/110239-000-A/the-biosphere-experiment/
>>
>> Biosphere 2 near Tuscon was a similar, even more extreme experiment 
>> to create a self-sustaining ecosystem. The experiment was considered 
>> a failure and the whole center belongs now to the University of Arizona.
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2
>>
>> Both experiments showed how difficult it is to support human life in 
>> a closed, self-sustaining environment. Do you think self-sustained 
>> life on Moon or Mars is possible? Or as the book "A City on Mars" 
>> asks "Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really 
>> thought this through?" 
>> https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/14/a-city-on-mars-by-kelly-and-zach-weinersmith-review-one-way-ticket-to-muskow-anyone
>>
>> -J.
>>
>>
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