That approach is not the usual way science is done in this country. But then Biosphere II is not run-of-the-mill science. Rather, it's an attempt to create a 2.5-acre, enclosed ecological system that can be a prototype for living communities in space.
It's no surprise that the $30 million project generates strong feelings among scientists in the field. "Some people say the entire group is off-the-wall," acknowledged microbiologist Clair Folsome, director of the Laboratory for Exobiology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and an unpaid consultant to the group. "The work is considered too kooky to attract any government funding. But I have no doubt that they will succeed."
"I'm amazed they'd take such a large step when we're going at it one meter at a time," said B.C. Wolverton, senior research scientist with NASA's National Space Technology Laboratories near Bay St. Louis, Miss. Wolverton, who has conducted research ...
