In 1992, you may recall the bold experiment of Biosphere2 — to make an enclosed ecosystem like that we would require on interplanetary trips — that failed almost instantly among normal, predictable (but ignored) human sexual politics and demagoguery. There were engineering problems (who knew concrete absorbed the CO2 that the plants needed to breathe to make oxygen so the humans could breate?), jealousies, and all of the other things you’d expect from such an experiment (in fact, were the very subject of the experiment), but were somehow unanticipated by the founders.
Biosphere2 is still there. A series of photos by Noah Sheldon documents its current state — some of it is surprisingly vibrant.
I recently read a very interesting book by Jane Poynter (one of the crew members) called “The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2” – there’s a lot in there about the internal politics …
Interesting! I’ll check it out as research for Human Contact.