In the late 1800s, the Biosphere 2 property was part of the Samaniego CDO Ranch, which grew as the…read moretown of Oracle did. Nearly 50 years later, the ranch was sold to a Canadian dentist who then ran it as both a cattle farm and hunting lodge, from the 1920s - 1950s. When he passed, it was sold to Lady Margaret, Countess of Suffolk, who built a Spanish-style adobe home, servants' quarters, and a pool on the property. She lived there until her death in 1968 after which Motorola purchased the property and built both casitas and a conference center. In 1984, Space Biospheres Ventures bought the property and began construction of the current $150m facility two years later, aimed at research and development of self-sustaining space-colonization technology. It included forests, deserts, laboratories, recycling systems, pigs, chickens, hummingbirds, bush babies, and even a coral reef. The University of Arizona assumed it in 2011 and is still used as a major scientific laboratory and educational center focused on global ecology, climate change, and earth sciences. What It's Famous For If you remember the movie Bio Dome (though not filmed at the Biosphere 2) then you know the premise of what happened within Biosphere 2. Two missions, between 1991 and 1994, sealed "Biospherians" inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability. Unfortunately, low oxygen levels, coupled with dwindling food supply and a bit of hysteria, ended both experiments early. To read first-hand accounts of what it was like, click here. Is It Worth Touring? It was actually a good way to spend an hour! We toured the various areas within the domes, explored some of the outside areas, and learned a lot more about the work being done today!

We had gotten some recommendations for Tucson attractions and restaurants from a former resident…read more One such was Biosphere 2. I vaguely recalled that this place existed in the 1990s (based on news coverage) but I didn't recall what had happened to it. It seemed to become a sort of cultural joke, and I think they even made some comedy on the general topic. After researching it a bit, it seemed worth checking out. The site is located about 45 minutes north of Tucson. You drive through the outer suburbs and then a small town or two to get there. The original idea was a self-contained, sealed site where human survival for space-related missions could be simulated. After that phase ended, the facility had passed through other university ownership, but is now managed by the University of Arizona. The philosophy now seems to be 'we have this expensive facility that would be hard to replicate - how can we make good use of it and maybe generate some income?'. The answers are to conduct large scale research in some areas, utilize it for associated degree programs in things like life sciences, and to open at least major parts of it for public tour access. You enter via a gated road and park at the visitors' center. There you either buy tickets or check in if you purchased them beforehand online. In addition to the standard tour, they offer some add-on more in-depth tours of some areas, but we did not sign up (or pay extra) for these. After check in, you walk along a paved path above the rest of the original complex. Then you arrive at the point where you descend to the buildings themselves. These are a series of interconnected super-sized greenhouses, basically. Each one has some variant of an ecosystem inside - desert, tropical rainforest, ocean, etc. The walking tour is well-marked as you follow large arrows around the complex, through doors, within the buildings, etc. There is a phone app that you download at the start (which is important, as there is almost no signal once you reach the complex) which plays numbered video segments on your phone as you progress through various stations. It actually takes a while to first enter the sort of enclosed environment I was picturing, but once you get there it continues in that way from pod to pod. I think the entire walk took us around 90 minutes or so, but you could linger more. This spot isn't probably something that absolutely everyone would be interested in, but I liked it. It is certainly unique - you're unlikely to find something similar or of this scale in many other places. I thought it was well worth a visit while we were in the area. If you're at all inclined towards an interest in science, you'll probably enjoy it.