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We’ve written so much about Mars lately that we’ve almost forgotten another familiar friendly face in the sky: the moon. Our constant companion, the subject of poetry, music and entire religions throughout human history. In 2021, scientists looked at our sweet sister in the solar system and thought, “Dude, that might use sperm.
Well, the sperm and the eggs, but the eggs aren’t that funny.
It’s serious science, so you know it’s going to be both amazing and depressing. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) held its annual aerospace conference this weekend. One of the presentations was from the University of Arizona and was titled: “Lunar pits and lava tubes for a modern arch. The presentation indicates that we are willing to store a catalog of seeds from Earth’s plants in a remote arctic island. Should not our do precious bodily fluids receive similar treatment?
Of Vice:
[…] the gist of their proposal is that they want to build a sperm bank under the dusty regolith of the lunar surface, for conservation purposes.
This “insurance policy” for the future of humanity and all species on Earth would be a repository of reproductive cells, including sperm and eggs. They propose that the bank can act as an ark, like the vault in Svalbard now, disaster.
[…]
The University of Arizona team’s plans for a heavenly locker of sperm and ova involve storing the cells inside lunar pits. The moon is punctuated by 200 of these pits, 80 to 100 meters deep, where lava flowed over the moon. They can protect against dramatic temperature changes, asteroids or radiation.
See? Sending semen to the moon makes good ecological sense. The team weren’t sure exactly who the genetic material would reach the moon, but I have a modest proposal.
G / O Media can get a commission
The team behind the Modern Ark concept is no slouch either. Jekan Thanga, who presented for the team, heads the Space and Earth Robotic Exploration Lab (SpaceTREx) and the Asteroid Science, Technology and Exploration Research Organized by Inclusive eDucation Systems (ASTEROIDS) lab at the University of Arizona. , supported by NASA. He reminded his audience that sending genetic material to the moon isn’t just funny for the world’s immature bloggers, it could be vital for biodiversity in the event of a major disaster or just ancient climate change.
The reason we may need to consider sending human and animal sperm and ova to the moon is because Earth is an increasingly risky place for life, mainly because of us humans. Extract from the video description of the conference:
It would serve as a comprehensive insurance policy. Earth faces the likelihood of peril from various natural disasters and human threats such as global nuclear war which could wipe out large numbers of species in a short period of time. Lunar lava tubes were discovered in 2013 and have likely remained intact for 3-4 billion years. They are only 4-5 days from Earth. They provide excellent shelter against variations in the temperature of the lunar surface, cosmic radiation and micro-meteorites.
We humans could make the Earth so unlivable that the only hope of life would be to hide in underground tunnels on a barren moon. See? I knew we could turn something as rock’n’roll as a blog about sperm on the moon into something depressing. Science!
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