Scientists devised an unexpected use for the moon. It’s a vault.

Folks, have you thanked the moon lately?

The large, cratered orb — weighing in at some 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds — serves us greatly. Its potent gravity stabilizes Earth‘s wobble, so we don’t spin chaotically over time (like on Mars), an unpleasant reality that would ignite climate chaos.

Yet beyond ensuring our planet is livable, creating tides, and appearing as a magnificent celestial object, scientists have proposed a novel idea for the moon: As wild species are increasingly threatened by a quintuple whammy of habitat destruction, exploitation, invasive species takeovers, pollution, and relentless climate change, they want to capitalize on extremely frigid lunar environs to naturally cryopreserve animal cells — a difficult thing to artificially sustain on our world.

“Such a biorepository would safeguard biodiversity and act as a hedge against its loss occurring because of natural disasters, climate change, overpopulation, resource depletion, wars, socioeconomic threats, and other causes on Earth,” the researchers, which include Mary Hagedorn, a senior research scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, wrote in the journal BioScience.

“Our goal is to cryopreserve most animal species on Earth,” they added.

There are indeed some well-managed cryogenic vaults holding tissue samples — such as the Ambrose Monell Cryo Collection at the American Museum of Natural History. “Nevertheless, all these biorepositories require intensive human management, electrical power, and an ongoing supply of liquid nitrogen, which makes them susceptible to unpredictable natural and geopolitical disasters,” the researchers note. “Today, many frozen collections are stored in urban centers, making them even more susceptible to destabilization threats.”

“Our goal is to cryopreserve most animal species on Earth.”

The moon, however, provides a solution. In the lunar south pole — where NASA intends to establish a permanent presence — there are permanently shadowed regions that stay at or below -196 degrees Celsius (-320 degrees Fahrenheit), the temperatures needed to completely stop cellular and molecular activity. The biodiversity vault would require neither power nor constant oversight.

The 13 proposed landing sites for NASA’s Artemis III mission in the lunar south pole. Each area is some 9.3 by 9.3 miles in size.
Credit: NASA

Storing life on the moon

On Earth, there’s a biorepository for seeds in Norway’s Arctic Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It naturally stays at some – 18 C (about 0 F). But such an endeavor on the moon, while able to naturally preserve animal cells, comes with a host of hurdles.

To achieve such a lunar vault, cryopreserved cells will first be tested in space. For example, they would collect a species like the starry goby, a species important in coral reef habitats, take samples from their fins, and store them in a biorepository on Earth. The cells and packaging would be tested in space-like environs before actually launching up to a space station. Then the samples will return to Earth “for analysis of viability and changes to DNA.”

But before truly journeying to a lunar vault, the researchers note these issues must be addressed:

– Packaging: They’ll need to develop “robust packaging” capable of withstanding extreme space environs.

– Radiation: The moon’s surface has a significantly higher level of background radiation than Earth — and like Mars is susceptible to solar storms. Introducing “antioxidant cocktails” to protect cells during the freezing process can help, as would building physical barriers (thick layers of moon regolith, walls of water, etc.).

– Temperature: Once on the lunar surface, transporting samples to the cryogenic vault will require rovers capable of maintaining cryogenic temperatures. That’s because, in daylight, exposed parts of the moon can reach some 100 C (212 F).

– Competition for resources: The vault would exist in the south pole’s permanently shadowed regions, which is home to invaluable stores of lunar ice (necessary for survival and likely the creation of rocket fuel). It may not be easy to utilize these areas for a repository, as such highly sought regions (that are also valued by different nations) “may be highly restricted and managed,” the researchers said.

– Microgravity: In space, tissue samples may change when exposed to near weightlessness, and this effect on cryopreserved cells needs more study.

Stems cells frozen in nitrogen at -196 C.
Credit: BSIP / UIG via Getty Images

The great decades-long payoff, however, is that, once stored, the samples wouldn’t need power, and would have relatively little vulnerability to environmental and societal disruption. The first “class” of preserved animals would likely include endangered or threatened species, pollinators, culturally significant species, and others.

“Protecting Earth’s life must be a top priority in the rush on the moon sites for industries and many types of science,” the scientists conclude.