Biosphere 2 Project undertaken by Space Biosphere Ventures, a private ecological research firm funded by Edward P. Bass of Texas. Biosphere scientist Abigail Alling seen in the artificial ocean of the Biosphere 2 Project during construction. The Ocean 'biome' provided a source of fish during the two-year duration of the Project. Water that evaporated from the surface of the 'ocean' was condensed and filtered to provide fresh water for consumption and to replenish the freshwater stream. Biosphere 2 was a privately funded experiment, designed to investigate the way in which humans interact with a small self-sufficient ecological environment, and to look at possibilities for future planetary colonization. 1990