Biosphere 2's latest mission: Learning how life first emerged on Earth – and how to make barren worlds habitable

A series of glass domes stand next to other glass buildings on an arid compound with the hot desert sun beating down.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

From a distance, Biosphere 2 emerges from the cacti and creosote of the Sonoran desert like a gleaming oasis, a colony of glass and bright white structures. Despite being just outside Tucson, Arizona, it looks almost like a colony on another planet.