Horribly phrased title I know but i’m really tired.
So, I read today that algae provides around 50% of the oxygen on planet Earth and it occurred to me that this probably makes algae far more efficient (by mass) at converting CO2 to Oxygen than trees are. This then led me to wonder how much space we would need to put aside in order to allow us to remove all other greenery but still provide enough oxygen for all livings to continue as normal.
If this proves to have too many unknown variables to be calculated what about for a single person on a spaceship? Using the most efficient natural CO2 to O2 converter, be it algae or otherwise, how much would you need in order to provide oxygen for one man in a spaceship.
biosphere 2, a fully closed environment, had an 8-man “population” in addtion to:
1,900sqm rain forest
850sqm ocean
450sqm swamp/wetland
2,500sqm agricultural land
a two-year “fully closed” mission produced 83% of the population’s diet. but most of the fauna in the forest went extinct. CO2 levels varied (some of it turned to carbonic acid and was absorbed by the concrete or limestone.) during the two years, oxygen levels steadily fell from 21% to 14.5%
in short, 8 people need an even bigger area and no provision for O2 or CO2 absorption.