Space Biospheres Ventures, a private for-profit firm, has undertaken a major research and development project in the study of biospheres with the objective of creating and producing biospheres. Biosphere II - under construction at present and scheduled for completion in January, 1990 - will be essentially isolated from the existing biosphere by a closed structure, composed of components derived from the existing biosphere. Like the biosphere of the Earth, Biosphere II will be a stable, complex, evolving, essentially materially closed, life closed, energetically open, informationally open system containing five kingdoms of life, at least five ecosystems, plus humankind, culture and technics.
Biosphere II will cover approximately 2.25 acres in floor area, and contain 5 million cubic feet in volume, with seven major biomes: tropical rainforest, tropical savannah, marsh, marine, desert, intensive agri-culture, and human habitat.
Potential applications for such biospheric systems include scientific and ecological management research, refuges for endangered species, and as life habitats for manned stations on space craft or other planets.