In an effort to save endangered species from possible catastrophic occurrences on Earth, scientists have announced an ambitious plan to store their DNA on the moon. In the unlikely event that these species go extinct on Earth, the imagined lunar "Noah's Ark" would serve as a backup for their preservation.
The idea is to build a biorepository-a dedicated space on the moon-to house frozen biological materials. Live tissue samples from a variety of animal species would be stored in this facility, acting as a backup in the event that these species became extinct.
The north or south poles of the moon, where craters cast a constant shadow and the temperature stays extremely freezing at about -200 degree Celsius, would be the perfect place for this biorepository.
According to the article published in the Oxford Academic journal BioScience, the scientists say that having another base on the moon would be a good backup plan to the one already here on Earth.
Nasa is also interested in the north and south poles of the moon because they have ice, which could help establish a human colony there.
Scientists at organisations like Harvard and the Smithsonian are creating techniques for gathering samples from threatened species on Earth, freezing them, and then sending them to the moon. For this space storage initiative, protocols are now being established, with the fish species known as the starry goby serving as the first.
Managing the high radiation levels in orbit and making sure the samples are safe during spaceflight are two challenges. Existing biorepositories, such as the one in Svalbard, Norway, are made to survive threats from Earth, but the extreme cold of the Moon provides a stable climate that may not require a power source, which makes it the perfect place for this backup plan.
'Such a biorepository would safeguard biodiversity and act as a hedge against its loss occurring because of natural disasters, climate change, overpopulation resource depletion, wars, socioeconomic threats, and other causes on Earth,' the scientists write.
'Our initial focus will be on cryopreserving animal skin samples with fibroblast cells.'
