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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, November 5, 2007 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

photo of speaker
Photo: Paragon Space

Jayne Poynter

"Lessons Learned for Sustainability from Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2"

ABSTRACT -- Biosphere 2 can be seen as an analog for Biosphere 1 - the Earth. The 3.15-acre sealed mesocosm where 8 people lived for two years unearthed many lessons in sustainable living and design. It popularized the concept 'biosphere', and provided the first data for how rising atmospheric CO2 will affect our oceans and us. These topics are reflected in the design of the mini-world, along with research results and concepts that shed light on some of the challenges faced by both Biospheres.

SPEAKER -- Jane Poynter was a member of the original team to live and work inside Biosphere 2 for two years starting in September 1991. She led the design and implementation of the Biosphere II Intensive Agriculture system and has written a book about this experience, entitled, The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2. In 1993, Ms. Poynter co-founded Paragon Space Development Corporation, now an important supplier of Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) for the aerospace industry. Paragon also provides thermal control expertise for spacecraft in orbit and during re-entry, as well as for hyper-velocity aircraft. She served as SPACEHAB's Chief Scientist for its Ecosystem in Space experiment on the International Space Station, and three experiments with ants, bees and fish, which flew on the STS-107 mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Ms. Poynter holds a patent for the Autonomous Biological System. She is Chief Scientist for Carbon Sequestration for the Seawater Foundation, a non-profit that is developing untreated seawater-based agroforestry projects in coastal deserts. She developed carbon sequestration models and ground truth methodologies for carbon credit trading, and documentation for the World Bank's BioCarbon Fund and the United Nations.




Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa. gov