US scientists suggest building genetic vault on the moon in case Earth is annihilated

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – In considering that planet Earth may one day be destroyed, scientists from the University of Arizona have suggested building an underground vault on the moon that would contain a variety of genetic materials and act as a “global insurance policy,” Technology Times reports.

Presenting their idea at the recent IEEE Aerospace Conference, the team of scientists from the University of Arizona College of Engineering said their plan would entail filling a vault with millions of cryogenically preserved seed, spore, sperm, and egg samples from Earth’s species, Technology Times reports.

The vault would be hidden in a network of 200 lava tubes that were discovered on the moon in 2013, and would act as a genetic ‘ark’ in the event that earth is annihilated: such annihilation might be triggered by a severe drop in biodiversity, the scientists said.

“Earth is naturally a volatile environment,” researcher Jekan Thanga, a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering in the University of Arizona College of Engineering said. “As humans, we had a close call about 75,000 years ago with the Toba supervolcanic eruption, which caused a 1,000-year cooling period and, according to some, aligns with an estimated drop in human diversity. Because human civilization has such a large footprint, if it were to collapse, that could have a negative cascading effect on the rest of the planet.”

The scientists emphasized their idea depends on advances in cryo-robotics technology and that placing such an ark on the moon is a long way off.

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