The four men and four women were to be sealed inside the glass-and-steel structure, raising their own food, recycling their air, water and wastes, independent and untouched by the world outside.
That, at least, is what they said.But in the four months that Biosphere 2 has operated, project sponsors have pumped in fresh air from outside. They have admitted to secretly installing a machine to scrub carbon dioxide from the air. They have acknowledged that the artificial world was stocked with food ahead of time.
Some former employees or people close to the project are charging fraud and deception. Other sources say it's just a matter of inept public relations. In either case, the credibility of a project that once promised to blaze a trail for the survival of Earth's species has eroded.
Among the most serious accusations:
- A crew member who left for medical treatment secretly brought back a duffel bag full of supplies - including, one critic says, a supply of seals that are supposed to prove the airlock doors haven't been opened.
- Computer programs that monitor conditions inside the dome were designed to permit tampering with the data.
Space Biospheres Ventures, the private company that developed the project, denies those specific allegations as well as others by critics of Biosphere management, said spokesman Larry Winokur.
But a key consultant, Carl Hodges, director of the University of Arizona's Environmental Research Laboratory, has gone to Texas billionaire Ed Bass - the prime funding source for Biosphere 2 - and urged him to "do everything possible" to save the project's credibility.