Should Scientists Create a Doomsday Ark on the Moon?

March 21, 2008

Just in case you’ve been refusing to believe that this planet is in increasingly dire shape, the Telegraph UK has a story that should rattle your cage a bit. Here’s the gist:

Plans are being made for the first experiments to pave the way for a "doomsday ark" on the moon.

The ark would contain DNA, embryos and all the essentials of life and civilization, to be activated should Earth be devastated by a giant asteroid, a climate flip or nuclear holocaust.

The information bank would provide survivors on Earth with a remote-access toolkit to rebuild the human race, said Bernard Foing, the executive director of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group.

A basic version of the ark would contain hard discs holding DNA sequences and instructions for metal smelting and planting crops. It would be buried in a vault just under the lunar surface, where it would be tended by robots.

Transmitters would send the data to heavily protected receivers on Earth in the event of a catastrophe. If no receivers survived, the ark would continue transmitting the information until new ones could be built.

The vault could later be extended to include natural material such as microbes, animal embryos and plant seeds, as well as cultural relics such as surplus museum items.

The European Space Agency, of which ILEWG is a part, hopes to lay the scientific groundwork for the doomsday ark over the next decade, starting with experiments to see whether tulips could be grown and maintained in an artificial ecosystem inside a lunar base. They envision placing the first experimental genetic databank on the moon by 2020, and having the full database in place by 2035, roughly a half-century or so before the most devastating effects of global warming might cause serious disruptions in the human food supply and mass extinctions. (Hopefully, we won’t have a collision before then with a killer asteroid, another scenario that might make the ark a crucial part of human survival.)

The doomsday ark would include some actual living humans as well. As Dr. Foing explained to the Telegraph:

But to develop a true Noah's Ark, we eventually would need to bring people to the moon. Only humans could do all the things necessary to successfully operate a genetic laboratory.

On Earth we are already investigating several activities such as genetic sequencing, cloning, and stem cell research. Our lunar scientists could adapt that technology — cultivating cells, storing them, and doing experiments to ensure that embryology works on the moon.

ESA isn’t the only group thinking about the need for a backup strategy to ensure human survival. William Burrows, director and founder of the prestigious Science and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University, is part of an ad hoc group of space futurists who call themselves the Alliance to Rescue Civilization. ARC wants to back up Earth’s collective hard drive, both its ecosystem and human civilization, on either a lunar base or an orbiting space station:

In the event of a major catastrophe, for example worldwide plague, comet impact, nuclear war or social collapse, the staff of ARC will function in a rescue capacity rather than as librarians. They will be prepared to help the survivors reestablish a functioning technological society, or in the worst instance, to repopulate the Earth themselves, and re-introduce the additionally needed biological species here. The primary mission of ARC will be to secure our tenancy of this planet, although it is fully compatible with plans to extend human settlement beyond the Earth-Moon system. ARC will provide our manned space program with the central purpose which it has so sorely lacked, linking it firmly to human survival on our home planet and elsewhere.

That’s comforting, isn’t it? Even if a catastrophe destroys life on our planet — or we destroy it ourselves — our species would have the means in place for a do-over. Of course, archiving the sum total of human knowledge in a single location — a feat that even the fabled Library of Alexandria didn’t come close to achieving, back in the days when there was a lot less information around — is a pretty daunting task; we’re talking about a lunar data storage center vastly larger than that gigantic server farm that Google is perpetually rumored to be building someplace in Asia. But other things about this idea trouble me as well. If we’re already planning for the planet’s destruction, does that mean we’re conceding that it’s going to happen? Wouldn’t we be better off trying to prevent a potential catastrophe? After all, there’s plenty we can do to combat global warming and/or mitigate its impact. It’s not inconceivable that we could someday eliminate nuclear arsenals. I’ve already written about a possible solution for killer asteroids.

So, what do you think? Leave your comments below.

Comments

[Obey the Pug]

I don't see how it could hurt to take this precaution. Having a data repository of human knowledge in a secure off-world location would also protect us against computer viruses or other calamities that might attack servers on Earth.

btw, here's another, even bigger idea. What if we turned the moon itself into a giant server farm? It would be easy to power the data centers totally from solar energy, which is more readily accessible in the low-atmosphere lunar environment. Server farms eat up huge amounts of electricity (as much as small cities), so we could stand to make a modest but significant dent in our global carbon footprint. The facilities would have to be underground, to protect them from meteorites.

[Captain America]

I can't believe that you're relying upon the London Daily Telegraph as an information source...what's next? Quoting Batboy or the Space Alien from http://www.weeklyworldnews.com ?

[Mack]

I dont think this is such a crazy idea

[Easter Bunny]

I think we need to put our energy into solving the problems that threaten life on Earth, rather than post-apocalyptic planning like this.

[Mullethead]

There are potential problems with turning the Moon into a giant server farm. One is the transmission of data over that distance, which would take about four seconds, I think. Another is that lunar temperatures fluctuate pretty wildly. If we need cheap, nonpolluting electricity, the best answer would be to put giant server farms in Alaska, where wind power could be harnessed effectively.

[Obama for Prez]

I don't know if they ever actually did this, but I found this 2003 article (http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/transorbital_030715.html) about a company, TransOrbital, that had a plan for putting HP servers on the Moon to store its backup data.
---------------------------
Those servers would be archives for company records or historic information completely independent from any database on the surface of the Earth. Once you get off-planet, Laurie said, you avoid the danger of losing data due to a disaster, natural or man-made. "One thing that's nice about the Moon, is that no one's going to come up and destroy your database," he added.

---------------------------

[Natural Man]

You could buy a whole lot of thumb drives with what it would cost to stash your backups on the Moon.

[Brad the Rad]

Yeah, but if a meteor strikes Earth or we have a nuclear war, all those thumb drives are going to be oblitherated.

[Jerry_Marchesky]

Why not put the backup servers on a satellite in Earth orbit, instead of on the moon? That way, it would be easier to physically access them, and the transmission lag would be minimal.

VOTE OBAMA!

[Mothra]

People do need to figure out to do with these other environmental problems, instead of buiding an ark on the moon. These other problems are real and imminent. If we see that we're going to fail at solving them, maybe we would need an arc. But the hope would be that we would solve the problems.

[anzuya312]

Why the moon? Wouldn't Mars be a better candidate in terms of terra-forming? Granted that Mars is much further than our own Moon, but it would be a leg-up in terms of climate.

[Patrick Kiger]

Hey Anzuya: You're exactly right in noting that Mars is a better candidate for terraforming than the Moon (btw, check out my previous blog essay on terraforming Mars at http://blogs.discovery.com/good_idea/2008/02/should-we-remod.html ).

But as a location for a giant backup server farm, I think the Moon would have big advantages over Mars. It would take 10 to 20 minutes for data transmissions to reach Mars from Earth and vice-versa, compared to the seconds it would take to transmit back and forth between Earth and the Moon. It'd be a lot cheaper and less daunting to send both robotic and manned missions to the moon to set up such a base. And unless we spent 50-100 years altering the Martian climate and atmosphere first, the incessant violent dust storms on Mars would make the construction extremely difficult and potentially damage the computer equipment itself. The moon is a lot more pristine environment.

[Tyler Blind]

I would have to agree that the moon is a cheaper, more logical option for the proposed doomsday ark. We all need to keep in mind that scientists are doing everything they can to keep the environment from getting so bad via global warming/deforestation/overfishing/overhunting as to require a doomsday ark revival, but consider the other possibilities. There is the rogue asteroid or nuclear holocaust. How are we to avoid these problems? A killer asteroid would be difficult to avoid because of the lack of warning we would have of its arrival. Plotting its course and launching a space-vehicle to intercept and change its course is possible, but the issue of time is a great one.

Nuclear holocaust has been avoided in the past due to prudent control over the nuclear matter. Any government possessing nuclear weapons realized the destructive capabilities and kept them unused (beside the two obvious exceptions). The problem is when an irrational leader aquires weapons, and doesn't see the necessity to keep the weapons unused. There has been discussion of eradicating all nuclear weapons caches the world over, but this does not solve the problem entirely. Since the nuclear technology is based in the laws of physics, people all over the world have the capability to unravel its mysteries. If the weapons were all destroyed, and all knowledge lost on it, someone in the future would inevitably rediscover its secrets.

This topic is discussing the possible destruction of human life on the earth through unavoidable means, such as a killer asteroid. For this reason, any argument against such a doomsday ark is illogical. The arguments against such an ark have rested solely on the idea that the catastrophic event could be avoided, and effort would be better used to solve these problems before they became an issue. This is an invalid argument.

[DARREN DAVID BROWN]

The only way to hear aperson talk to you in you'r head is with a radio freqeuncy vocal cord nerve implant.Just look for a white scar in the back of you'r mouth.With the same implant another person has the ability to read that persons mind.When you think tiny vibrations are sent down the vocal cord nerve to the vocal cords.the implant turns those vibrations into words transmitted to a computer.GOOD LUCK WITH THE TELEAPATHIC GOOBER GUN.

[DARREN DAVID BROWN]

The only way to hear aperson talk to you in you'r head is with a radio freqeuncy vocal cord nerve implant.Just look for a white scar in the back of you'r mouth.With the same implant another person has the ability to read that persons mind.When you think tiny vibrations are sent down the vocal cord nerve to the vocal cords.the implant turns those vibrations into words transmitted to a computer.GOOD LUCK WITH THE TELEAPATHIC GOOBER GUN.

[DARREN DAVID BROWN]

The only way to hear aperson talk to you in you'r head is with a radio freqeuncy vocal cord nerve implant.Just look for a white scar in the back of you'r mouth.With the same implant another person has the ability to read that persons mind.When you think tiny vibrations are sent down the vocal cord nerve to the vocal cords.the implant turns those vibrations into words transmitted to a computer.GOOD LUCK WITH THE TELEAPATHIC GOOBER GUN.

[DARREN DAVID BROWN]

The only way to hear aperson talk to you in you'r head is with a radio freqeuncy vocal cord nerve implant.Just look for a white scar in the back of you'r mouth.With the same implant another person has the ability to read that persons mind.When you think tiny vibrations are sent down the vocal cord nerve to the vocal cords.the implant turns those vibrations into words transmitted to a computer.GOOD LUCK WITH THE TELEAPATHIC GOOBER GUN.

[DARREN DAVID BROWN]

The only way to hear aperson talk to you in you'r head is with a radio freqeuncy vocal cord nerve implant.Just look for a white scar in the back of you'r mouth.With the same implant another person has the ability to read that persons mind.When you think tiny vibrations are sent down the vocal cord nerve to the vocal cords.the implant turns those vibrations into words transmitted to a computer.GOOD LUCK WITH THE TELEAPATHIC GOOBER GUN.

[DARREN DAVID BROWN]

THE BRAIN HAS TO TELL THE MOUTH WHAT TO SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sapereaude]

human race is a freak of evolution and not a pretty one (from deep religious delusions to use of anything to inflict death), if it will extinct itself which is more probable than being wiped out by a meteorite, why should it be revived?

[destroyit shredder]

This blog Is very informative , I am really pleased to post my comment on this blog . It helped me with ocean of knowledge so I really belive you will do much better in the future . Good job web master .

[Impotence causes]

Thanks! Very helpful information. Here's a great tip from women who did it and worked too: Exercise, eat healthy, and take a long hot bath or shower. Also, write in your journal to relieve stress - These are one of the many effective ways to relieve PMS problems. If this does not work, visit my site to have great relief.

[Cheap viagra]

Today has been very special to me because today I got a job starting, I think having the opportunity to read this article makes me much better day than it already was, I believe that this information is great, very helpful for many people, no doubt help others in their various daily tasks. On behalf of all who read blogs thank you very much.