1993 Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 30-37
To construct a life support system, two different approaches appear to have been taken. One stems from studies on microcosms and has been mainly performed in the field of environmental toxicology. The other is of pysico-chemical life support system typified by spacesuits.
Neither approach is yet to succeed in establishing a long-lasting, large-scale life support system, however. The one and only closed, ecological life support system of the kind existing today, i. e., the vivasphere (the integrated whole of the bioshpere and the humanosphere), has been made up of the close interactions between the physico-chemical and biological processes. As an example of such an interaction, the known history of the vivasphere has been presented, with special reference to the size of the biosphere during Precambrian period. The intimate interaction between the geological and biological processes existed in the period would indicate that the successful construction of the closed, ecological life support system might be realized when due respect is paid to both the physico-chemical and biological processes.
