It is planned to arrange an "ark in case of an apocalypse" on the Moon

Plans for 'doomsday ark' on the moonBy Roger Highfield, Science Editor

Daily Telegraph, 10/03/2008
Translation: Inopressa

The first experiments are planned, which will prepare the ground for the construction of an "ark on the Moon in case of an apocalypse."

The ark will store DNA, embryos and everything necessary for life and civilization; these resources will be used if the Earth is devastated by a collision with a giant asteroid, a sudden climate change or a nuclear catastrophe.

According to Bernard Foing, executive director of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), this database will help the surviving earthlings to revive humanity using a set of tools controlled from a distance.

The basic version of the ark will contain hard drives with a DNA code, as well as instructions for smelting metal from ore and sowing crops. It will be hidden in a vault under the lunar surface, at a shallow depth. The Ark will be serviced by robots. (The drawing in the original of the article in the lower left corner shows, obviously, these same robots, and why are all the buildings on the surface, ask the artist. Or was he referring to the process of building the ark? – VM). 

In the event of a disaster, special transmitters will transmit data to Earth, to receivers that are well protected from external influences. If no receiver survives, the ark will transmit information uninterrupted until new receivers are acquired on Earth.

Later, the repository can be expanded to store biological materials such as microbes, animal embryos and plant seeds, as well as cultural monuments such as those in the storerooms of museums.

In the next ten years, scientists from the European Space Agency will begin to check whether living organisms can exist in the lunar repository – they hope to conduct experiments on bacterial and plant ecosystems.

This was reported by Dr. Foing, who is also the scientific director of the lunar expedition of the European Space Agency using the Smart-1 spacecraft.

The first flowers – tulips or arabidopsis (the latter plant is widely used for scientific purposes) – will be able to grow in 2012-2015. Tulips are ideal for this purpose, as their bulbs can be frozen, transported over long distances, and then germinated almost without fertilizing. In combination with algae, an artificial atmosphere in a sealed room and chemically enriched lunar soil, they can serve as the basis of the ecosystem.

"As a result, it will be necessary to place something like Noah's Ark there - a wide range of species representing our biosphere," added Dr. Foing.

Scientists expect to place the first experimental information base on the Moon no later than in 2020. The term of its existence will be calculated for 30 years. The full archive will be commissioned by 2035.

The ark will have to be hidden under a layer of rock to protect it from sudden changes in temperature, radiation and vacuum. One of the energy sources will be solar panels.

The information will be stored in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish; transmitters will connect the ark with 4 thousand "earth storages", where shelter, food and water supplies will be provided for people who survived the disaster.

Dr. Foing notes: although no asteroid is currently known to collide with the Earth, the presence of craters on the Earth and the Moon "indicates that asteroid falls have occurred frequently" throughout the existence of the Solar System.

"A collision with a large asteroid can cause catastrophic damage to the Earth's environment and have fatal consequences for living beings. According to popular belief, it was because of such a collision, 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs became extinct," says Foing.

"But to create a real Noah's Ark, we will eventually have to deliver people to the moon. Only people can do everything necessary for the genetic laboratory to work successfully," he adds.

"Being on Earth, we are already working in such areas as deciphering the genetic code, cloning and stem cell research. Our scientists working on the Moon will be able to adapt these technologies – to grow cells, store them and conduct experiments in order to make sure that embryological research is possible in lunar conditions."

The construction of the ark was discussed in February by William Burrow and Jim Burke at the symposium "Space Solutions to global problems of the Earth" at the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg (France).

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru12.03.2008