The biosphere 2 project and its potential role in assisting space exploration
Abstract Space Biospheres Ventures is developing technologies for its Biosphere 2 project — a 3 acre materially closed ecological system with human habitat, intensive agriculture and five wilderness biomes — and other life-support testbeds for space habitats in microgravity and the Moon and Mars, as well as for ecological research pertinent to the biosphere of Earth. These include soil bed reactors for air purification and biomass production; aquatic waste processing systems; real-time analytic systems; and computer systems of control and management. A space policy pursuing joint Earth and ‘space biospheres’ objectives and implications is discussed.
Soil beds for the control of sewage odors.
Liquid wastes in transit often are accompanied by malodorous volatile materials which emanate from sewer vents into the surrounding atmosphere. Many of these materials are perceptible in very low concentrations in the range of parts per billion. Disagreeable odors associated with the transporta tion of wastes are of serious concern to the responsible regulatory and con trol agencies and to the citizens in the vicinity where these odors are dis cernible. These odor problems are intensified by warm summer tempera tures, by long detention times in tran sit, by lack of aeration, and by the close proximity of residences to sewer system vents. Pomeroy (1) (2) and Mayo (3) have alleviated sewer odor problems successfully by routing exit sewer gases through soil beds. Mayo's installation on Mercer Island at Seattle has per formed so effectively that the consult
Modeling the Decision to Produce Vegetables at Home
The household decision to produce vegetables at home was found to be influenced significantly by the area of household residence, homeownership, race, source of income, the number and ages of adults in the household, and the potential for saving money. It was estimated that an average gardening household saved approximately $40 per year on vegetables. This is approximately twenty percent of the average amount spent on vegetables in 1977 by nongardening households. A simultaneous equation model was estimated to derive these results.