Biosphere 2?

Question

Ok i need to find some answers quick so here goes.
1. How were living organisms able to sustain for 2 years with minimal input from external sources?
2. What were some limitations of Biosphere 2?
3. Why was it not successful?
all these have to do with the Biosphere operation in Tuscan Arizona so who ever can give me a website or something on this would be helpful

Answer 1

I do not know if there is an official website for it, sorry. I remember one thing that was a MAJOR problem is that it was not a perfectly sealed environment. There was a special on the Science or regular Discovery channel about it and they were interviewing an engineer. He mentioned that even the space shuttle which HAS to stay sealed or the persons inside can die has some temperature caused stress which causes leakage of the atmosphere from inside to outside. Well, think how much work goes into the shuttle compared to what went into putting in all the panes of glass in Bio 2. They estimated due to the freezing temperatures at night and the above 100 or so temperatures in the day of the desert, the exchange rate in and out of Bio 2 negated ANY chance of having a closed environmental atmosphere inside. It was mentioned that within a couple months of the start of the experiment, there was only approx 25% of the original air mass inside. It had either leaked out at night when Bio was warmer than the desert or rushed back in during the day. Outside changed temperature at a much faster rate than inside.
So, as a limitation: I would say, for the time, building materials and construction techniques [i.e. cost factor].

Answer 2

It was not totally successful, but still interesting IMO.