Scientists are inspired by Noah’s Ark in a new monthly proposal they call the “global insurance policy.” They hope to send an ark to the moon, full of 335 million samples of sperm and eggs, if it catastrophe it happens on Earth.
Instead of two of each animal, the solar-powered lunar ark would cryogenically store frozen seeds, spores, sperm and egg samples from about 6.7 million species of Earth. University of Arizona researcher Jekan Thanga and a group of his students proposed the concept in a paper presented at this week’s IEEE Aerospace Conference.
“Earth is naturally a volatile environment,” Thanga, a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the Arizona College of Engineering, said in a press release. “As humans, we had a strong appeal about 75,000 years ago with the supervolcanic eruption of Toba, which caused a cooling period of 1,000 years and, according to some, is in line with an estimated decline in human diversity. Because human civilization has such a large footprint, if it collapsed, it could have a negative cascading effect on the rest of the planet. “
Thanga highlighted climate change as the main concern, especially as it contributes to rising sea levels. A deadly global pandemic and a large-scale nuclear war are two other major possibilities Doomsday Clock researchers cite catastrophic disasters.
Svalbard Seedbank in Norway, also known as the “vault of the day of judgment”, it currently holds hundreds of thousands of seed samples to ensure continuous biodiversity on earth. But Thanga’s team believes that storing such precious samples on our own planet is far too risky.
Fortunately, the moon, located just 238,855 miles away, has none of these problems.
Use of lava tubes to house samples
Establishing the ark would involve sending 6.7 million samples to the moon in several payloads, then storing them in a safe below the surface, where they would be safe.
The idea is to store the ark in a network of lava tubes – about 200 of which were discovered beneath the moon in 2013. They formed billions of years ago, when underground lava flows formed massive caverns with a diameter of over 300 feet.
These tubes have remained untouched for three to four billion years, and scientists suggest they could provide much-needed protection against solar radiation, meteors or surface temperature changes.
While the moon is not hospitable to humans, its harsh features “make it a great place to store samples that must remain very cold and undisturbed for hundreds of years in a row,” they said.
University of Arizona
Building a “Modern” Noah’s Ark
Based on “quick, behind-the-envelope” calculations, Thanga said the transport of about 50 samples from each of the 6.7 million species – a total of 335 million samples – would take about 250 rocket launches. This is over six times more than it took to build International Space Station, which required 40 rocket launches.
“It’s not crazy,” Thanga said. “We were a little surprised by that.”
The team’s proposal for the ark includes solar panels on the surface of the moon for electricity, elevator shafts in the installation and Petri dishes housed in cryogenic conservation modules.
The seeds should be cooled to minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit, and the stem cells to minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit. For reference, Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cold temperatures would probably freeze the metal, so the team introduced a type of floating shelf made of cryo-cooled superconducting material and fed by quantum levitation using a strong magnet.
“It’s like they’re locked in place by ropes, but invisible ropes,” Thanga said. “When you get to cryogenic temperatures, weird things happen. Some of them just look like magic, but they’re based on physics principles tried and tested in the lab, on the fringes of our understanding.”
They also suggest that robots navigate the facility on magnetic tracks. Obviously, much research is still needed, including the effects of lack of gravity on seeds and a plan for communication with the Earth.
“What amazes me about such projects is that they make me feel that we are approaching a space civilization and a not too distant future in which humanity will be based on the Moon and Mars,” said Álvaro Díaz-Flores Caminero, a doctoral student at the University of Arizona, who leads the thermal analysis of the project. “Multidisciplinary projects are difficult because of their complexity, but I think the same complexity is what makes them beautiful.”