You should have developed a plan similar to the Earth’s ecological system, which is a good analogy to the spaceship Big Blue that you are responsible for packing. The spaceship should be like the planet Earth, a closed system, with very little coming into or going out of the atmosphere. The only outside influence of much ecological influence is the sun. The sun is the source of energy that that is used to form organic molecules (used to store biological energy and form carbon skeletons of other macromolecules) , splits oxygen from water during photosynthesis and produces kinetic energy (heat).

Two major similarities between spaceship Earth and your spacecraft are:

1. Both your spaceship and the Earth depend to a major degree on what is on board to support life.
2. Both the spaceship Earth and your spaceship are designed to support life for long periods of time.

The best way to use only what you have on board the spaceship to support life for long periods of time is to RECYCLE the food, water and oxygen. If you were to recycle these supplies you would not have to pack large quantities of food, water, and oxygen. Also, you would not utilize a lot of space and energy to get rid of waste .

The picture above shows how the spaceship Earth recycles its supplies. This represent an ecosystem on the planet Earth. It consists of the abiotic component (carbon dioxide, oxygen, minerals  and water) and the biotic component (plants, animals, fungi). Write a paragraph explaining how water may be recycled on spaceship Earth.

In miniunit Epsilon you learned two processes, cellular respiration and photosynthesis. These concepts are important to recycling and are interrelated. Write out two equations showing aerobic cellular respiration and photosynthesis by filling in the blanks below. Explain how the two gases carbon dioxide and oxygen may be recycled through these two processes. Write in your notes the relationship between these two processes as to recycling molecules and biological energy. You may want to go back to miniunit Epsilon to review these concepts.

Cellular Respiration

________ + ________  --------------> ________ + ________

Photosythesis

________ + ________  --------------> ________ + ________

For the answer, please go to the next page.