Scientists have begun to establish plans for repopulation, starting with a sperm bank – on the moon.
In what they call a “modern global insurance policy,” mechanical engineers have proposed that humans create a repository of reproductive cells – sperm and eggs – from 6.7 million species of Earth, including humans.
And the proposed shore or “ark” would be below the surface of the moon.
As our planet faces natural disasters, droughts, asteroids and the potential for nuclear war – to name a few – scientists say people need to focus on space travel to keep life the way we know it.
“Earth is naturally a volatile environment,” said study author Jekan Thanga, whose team at the University of Arizona presented their report “Lunar Pits and Lava Tubes for a Modern Ark,” at the annual Institute of Electrical and Electrical Engineering. (IEEE) Aerospace Conference on Saturday.
Due to the instability of the planet, he said, an Earth-based deposit would leave specimens vulnerable. As such, Thanga proposed launching a kind of planetary exodus by founding a vault of human seeds per month as soon as possible. It would store reproductive cells in newly discovered monthly “pits”, from which scientists believe lava flowed billions of years ago.
The so-called “ark”, according to Thanga’s presentation, would then cryogenically preserve different species in the event of a global disaster. “We can continue to save them until technology advances to reintroduce these species – in other words, keep them for another day,” he said.
According to Thanga, the pits are the perfect size for storing cells. It descends between 80 and 100 meters underground and “provides easy shelter from the moon’s surface”, which withstands “major temperature fluctuations”, as well as threats from meteorites and radiation.
Thanga said many plants and animals are “severely endangered” and cited the eruption of Mount Toba in Indonesia 75,000 years ago as a cause for concern, saying it “caused a 1,000-year cooling period and, according to some, aligns with an estimated decline in human diversity. He sees a current parallel “due to human activity and other factors that we do not fully understand,” he said, adding that “there have already been rapid losses in recent decades.”
The concept of “ark” is already used in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – sheltering plant seeds, that is – on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Circle, where scientists say that the massive stone structure can withstand, undisturbed by humans or elements. There are over 992,000 unique samples, each containing an average of 500 seeds.
Thanga added that he was “surprised” at how “cost-effective” the mission could be, according to his “back-of-an-envelope” estimates. To carry 50 samples of every [6.7 million target] the species would take 250 rocket launches. By comparison, it took 40 launches to build the International Space Station, which is in low Earth orbit – much closer than the moon.
“It’s not crazy,” Thanga insisted. “We were a little surprised by that.”