Scientists from the University of Arizona (USA) have proposed to create a sperm bank on the Moon in case the Earth dies. Reported by the New York Post.
Researchers want to send samples of reproductive cells of 6.7 million species of living organisms, including humans, to a natural satellite. The alleged “ark” is planned to be preserved under the surface of the moon.
As stated by University of Arizona scientist Jekan Thanga during the aerospace conference of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, today the Earth is unstable due to natural disasters, drought, asteroids and the possibility of a nuclear war. Therefore, he believes, it is necessary to preserve life in the diversity in which we know it.
A storage with biomaterial is supposed to be created in lunar lava tubes – tunnels up to 100 meters deep, which will protect the samples from temperature extremes, meteorites and radiation. The bank can store 50 samples of each type of reproductive cells. It will take 250 rocket launches to transport them.
Earlier, an international group of astronomers discovered that the famous exoplanet orbiting the star GJ 1132 lost its original atmosphere, but acquired a new one. Thus, the planet turned from a mini-Neptune into a rocky world like Earth.