Throwback Thursday: The Biodome Where Beijing Scientists Lived off Worms

Last week, a blackened and unpiloted crew capsule landed in Inner Mongolia and was subsequently paraded around Beijing to celebrate its journey. The capsule's accelerated re-entry was meant to simulate the conditions it would face upon returning from the moon. 

The return was an important step in China's plans to embark on a manned lunar mission, but a far more interesting experiment to that end occurred six years ago this month, as we reported at that time. 

In May of 2014, three scientists emerged from a biodome, also known by the catchy name, "bioregenerative life support module," located on the campus of Beijing Aeronautical and Astronautical Institute, where they had survived on mealworm protein for 105 days. The enclosure was also able to support the cultivation of grains, vegetables, and fruit, but the mealworms made up more than half of their diet. As anyone who had the misfortune of reading the world's most disgusting children's book, How to Eat Worms will know, there are many ways to cook up creeping and crawling things, but the volunteers preferred steamed and frying.

Amazingly, the dome provided all the oxygen that the scientists required, and it was able to recycle their water through a condensation system.

Such biodomes have captured the popular imagination since at least the 1990s, but this was only the third real-life biodome in the world.

Since then, China has sent the first ever probe to the far side of the moon and has attempted to plant vegetation in a controlled environment. Unfortunately, the cotton failed to sprout, but as such experiments continue, it may not be long before we see headlines touting a real lunar biodome.

READ: Throwback Thursday: How a Dutchman Revamped Beijing's Biking Culture

Images: Xinhua, Weibo, Amazon