Welcome to Bio-Plex, the next step in long-term space exploration. Formally known as the Bioregenerative Planetary Life Support Systems Test Complex, this offshoot of NASA's Advanced Life Support Program (advlifesupport.jsc.nasa.gov) is converting a corner of Houston's Johnson Space Center into a preview of tomorrow's extraterrestrial pioneers.
This isn't NASA's first such test bed - a similar project housed four crew members for 91 days in 1997. Unfortunately, three months won't get you even halfway to Mars. At present, the Bio-Plex is not much more than a high tech Habitrail tube. Designs will be finalized in early January, and by 2002 the tunnel will link to six plug-in compartments, each with its own purpose: an airlock, a lab, a life-support chamber, a sleeping room, and two greenhouses for testing hydroponic and other methods of growing food. In August 2003, a four-person crew is slated to move in for the first long-term test of this human terrarium.
ELECTRIC WORD
Sight Manager
Live/Work Space
Blew Note
Enter The Dragon
Ring Of Fire
Spin Control
