Science educator and writer Dan Heim answers the question, “I know there’s water ice on the Moon and Mars, and I get how it can be melted and used for drinking, but I don’t get how they can make rocket fuel out of it. — WJ, Provo, UT”
Dan provides an animated answer at Sky Lights …
This week Colleen Cooley, MSc visited SAM from the Diné Bikéyah (Navajo land) of the four corners region of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Colleen brought her tenacity for detail, creative solutions, fearless engagement of physical labor and stimulation for good conversations.
A raft guide of more than a decade Colleen is a consultant, volunteer, and advocate for various not-for-profit conservation organizations that work to find sustainable solutions to protect land, air, and water in the American Southwest. She brings a keen awareness of “water is life” in a region of our country that is only drying year after year. We discussed how as with the original Biosphere 2 our effort to build a hermetically sealed habitat for bioregeneration helps prepare us for living on another planet while at the same time informs how we can improve our interaction with our first home, here on Earth.
So much of our modern psyche is built on the false narrative that “technology will save us” when in fact our personal actions and life style choices (for those of us privileged to choose a “life style”) are what got us in this mess in the first place, but can help us move to a more sustainable future.
In her time volunteering at SAM, Colleen was immediately a member of our team, exclaiming “Let’s get it done!” when we entered the lung by headlamp (at 9 pm) to conduct our first stud welds, something none of us had experienced before. Thank you Colleen for five days of shoveling, drilling, welding, and motivation!
Colleen is featured in a short documentary called “Water Flows Together” that reminds us of the importance of water conservation and protection, for everyone.
As with all construction projects, there are unknown hurdles and roadblocks, physical and logistical challenges that slow forward progress. How we deal with each of these defines the integrity of the project, in some ways more than any other factor.
Trent was preparing to rebuild the lower lung door when he discovered a bird nest on the high, narrow ledge of the old steel door frame. In the nest were four recently hatched chicks, their mother distraught by our disruption of her feeding. The grinding, sanding, and welding over the subsequent days would surely cause further disruption to their health and maturation at this critical stage.
I called my childhood mentor and good friend Ron Spomer, avid outdoorsman, wildlife photographer, and conservationist. He quickly dispelled the myth that touching a bird nest or even the baby birds themselves would cause the mother to abandon them. ‘Birds really can’t smell very well. It’s just not their most keen sense,’ he claimed.
Ron then proceeded to explain how to move the nest, in one or a few stages:
I ran over to the B2 wood shop and was pleased to receive Tim’s immediate assistance. He and I built a nesting platform in the course of a few minutes, using scraps of wood. I returned. Trent and I mounted the sturdy “C” shaped box on an old piece of unistrut. We moved the nest, and then photographed it for Ron’s review. He quickly noted that the top board was too close to the lip of the nest, disabling the mother from walking around the edge to feed her young. Argh! Of course. Trent and I lowered the box and nest and removed the top board. We were pushing into the second hour since the chicks were fed. Ron said it was unlikely they would survive, given their need for constant nourishment.
We replaced the nest on the unistrut, and just before dusk headed up to our apartment on campus.
For the next two days, we didn’t see the mother and assumed the worst.
But when Trent reached over the nest and photographed what we could not see, sure enough, all four chicks were living, each with a thicker down than before. Trent discovered that if he held his gloved finger above the nest and did his best to approximate a bird call, the chicks rose above the rim, necks strained, ready to receive.
Birds on Mars? No, neither living nor in skeletal form. But as we move from this planet to another, it is my hope that we slow down a bit, taking time to remember where we came from, and what we value most as we leave rover tracks, boot prints, and bulldozer cuts to build the first habitats on Mars. –Kai Staats
(Trent, Phil, and Kai have received full COVID vaccinations and were outdoors for the duration of this visit)
In the academic world the apprenticeship model is cornerstone to the transmission of knowledge and skills, made strong through the publication of research, experiment design, and data. Outside of academia, the world often takes for granted how we arrived to our knowledge base, to our technological prowess and industrial fortitude.
In our work on the Test Module, the prototype for the Biosphere 2 and now centerpiece for SAM, we have asked myriad questions (in our minds) of the Biospherians, Why did they build it that way? What was this used for? How did they come up with this idea? and What happens if we replace that with this? Taber MacCallum and William Dempster have been gracious with support and guidance via remote. In our pandemic riddled world it was unexpected to spend time with the third member of this design and engineering team, an individual who helped lay the foundation for the Test Module in which we stand. Today we had the honor of receiving Phil Hawes, architect of record (1985 -1992) for Biosphere 2 who worked closely with Dempster and MacCallum to design and build the Test Modules in 1986-87.
Phil spent the better part of two hours with us, telling stories of the architecture, technology, biology and ecology, and social dynamics that made Biosphere so unique. He emphasized (as needs to be emphasized again and again) that no experiment “fails” as long as we learn from the outcome. The failure would be to not learn from those aspects of the experiment that unfolded in ways unexpected.
Following his departure Trent and I (Kai) repeated the mantras shared by Phil, an echo from more than three decades prior that needs to be shared now even more than before:
Sometimes leaders accomplish difficult tasks by act of will alone, for competition, or for profit. But those who truly shape the next generation do what they do because they love doing it. Others follow as a celebration of the process and the goal. Phil is relentless in his pursuit of the art and science of sustainable living both on this planet and beyond. He shared with us photos of a scale model he recently completed for a 19 acre sustainable community in Fairfield, Iowa. It was beautiful in its simplicity, layout, and flow. Thank you Phil for bringing us into your past and present as we move to reshape our shared future, on this planet and beyond.
One of the most knowledgeable and dedicated green architects on this planet, Phil Hawes has been a leading pioneer in alternative design and construction for more than 40 years. He has worked on projects in sustainable design, and educational programs in architecture, ecology, and community planning in California, Arizona and Washington State, and in Portugal, France, Nepal, and Australia; he continues his work in sustainable community development. Phil studied with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in 1955-56. He holds a B.A. in Architectural Design from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. in Sustainable Community Design from the San Francisco Institute of Architecture.
The Mars analog HI-SEAS director Dr. Michaela Musilova and her associate Zoe from Luke Air Force base visited SAM at Biosphere 2. It was my pleasure to be reunited with my former Mars Crew 134 crew member. Dr. Michaela Musilova is an astrobiologist with a focus on life in extreme environments. She earned her PhD at the University of Bristol (UK) and conducted research at University College London (UK), California Institute of Technology (USA), Chiba University (Japan) and others. She is a graduate from the International Space University (ISU)’s Space Studies Program.
Michaela has been serving as the HI-SEAS director on the Big Island of Hawaii for three years, working to upgrade the facilities and provide high quality team experiences.
Strength. Durability. Flexibility with minimal modification. This is the art of the science of materials manipulation with metal being ideally suited to the interior of a space craft (even one that doesn’t have rockets).
In the fall of 2020 Biosphere 2 Deputy Director John Adams and SAM Director Kai Staats engaged a University of Arizona Engineering 498 Capstone team to design and fabricate a working prototype of an automated pressure regulation system for the inhabitant living space, adjacent to and principally atmosphere separated from the Test Module.
Team 21066 was highly successful in their design and prototype, demonstrating a working model mid May 2021. Once the 1200 sq-ft crew living space is built, a full-scale version will be built.
Core to the design is the ability to:
The year-end product demonstration video is available here.
You can meet the team members Ahmed, James, Meghan, Nathan, Coby, Gustavo, and Arfan at our Development Team page.
This may at first glance seem like a silly, or at best esoteric question, but the physics behind the propagation of sound in a very different atmosphere is really quite fascinating. Physics educator, writer, and amateur astronomer Dan Heim provides an in-depth answer to the question, What is the sound of a bell ringing on Mars?
Robert David reached out to me (Kai) in November 2020, when SAM was building momentum toward construction at Biosphere 2. Robert is a resident-employee at the world renowned Arcosanti, a prototype arcology in the high-elevation Arizona desert. This testing ground for the innovative architect Soleri’s progressive urban planning concepts is now five decades since its 1970 founding and is regarded as an early example of sustainable architecture that prioritizes live-work spaces where the surrounding natural environment is cherished over urban sprawl.
In many ways, Arcosanti could be taken as an analog for the first communities on Mars. This intrigued Kai early in the conversations with Robert. Robert’s friend of many years Angus Gluck spearheaded research into insulated shipping containers for the SAM living quarters, and is guiding their level placement upon arrival. Angus is a resident of Flagstaff, Arizona, a builder in many trades, and regular visitor to Arcosanti.
Robert and Angus came to us with a can-do, doesn’t matter how hard the project, we’ll get it done! attitude. True to their word, they dove right into grinding and sanding in the lung (which is not fun), a first and second pass of rust removal on the lung rings (see the banner at top), sanding the exterior of the lung shell, hanging electrical disconnects, and applying the primer in the Test Module. Our days and evenings were filled with conversation guided by Robert about the incredible confluence of mathematics, programming, and augmented digital realities, while Angus share insights into innovative, often efficient methods for construction and the development of living spaces.
Thank you both for your many contributions over such a short period of time.
This week brought welcomed, cooler temperature, rain, and hail. The desert was alive again after a much needed storm to break the dry spell. And with that invocation of precipitation came a highly productive few days, the start of our last, long dash to the finish line in May, and first pressure tests.
Trent and Kai removed the steel frame of the original data collection terminal and kiosk. From 1987-1989 this structure served as a station for monitoring, collecting, and displaying real-time data feeds from the analog sensors in the Test Module. Data feeds were brought from within the sealed Test Module to the kiosk through flex conduit, a junction box, and PVC pipe to the kiosk, with pressure fittings and silicone rubber used to maintain air-tight fittings.
Now, with most sensors transmitting via a digital communication medium, a single USB, Ethernet, or wireless feed can route all the data generated by the Test Module. As such, the entire kiosk will be replaced by a single, simple podium where a SAM manager, visiting researcher, or tourist engaged in a presentation can view data via a laptop.
While a dozen PVC conduits were terminated, filled with expansion foam, and buried in concrete, two conduits are retained: one for electrical power, the other for Ethernet and USB. Why? A hard line provides IT support on the outside of the habitat to provide direct support and potential firmware upgrades for equipment that misbehaving. While not desired and certainly not engaged regularly, this direct support does not require a break in the seal and simulation.
At the same time, Kai and Trent were eager to remove the last of the old, long-since abandoned and very much displeasing pipes and junction box from the space between the exterior and interior doors. The steel floor was cut free, pipes cut low, and concrete poured for a new, clean, elegant entrance. Next, the walls of this small space will be sanded, primed, and painted with the installation of the new, primary electrical panel.
Thank you Tim and Terry for helping with a six bag concrete mix, pour, and finish!
