As you start reading this article, you’ll likely wonder what this has to do with astronomy. But stay
with me. Astronomy may play a pivotal role in helping solve this problem.
Species extinctions, both plant and animal, happen all the time. Scientists estimate that some 10% of species go extinct every 10 million years. One estimate claims that 99.999% of all species that have ever lived on Earth have gone extinct. But there are times in the vast history of life on Earth where species vanished at much higher rates, events known as mass extinctions. Scientists recognize five major mass extinctions. And some feel we are now at the beginning of a sixth one, this one caused primarily by human activity, like habitat destruction, overhunting, pollution, and global warming. Over the past few hundred years, extinctions climbed over 1000 times the background rate.
To protect the world’s plant species,
particularly those used for food, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was
established in 2008 to preserve global agricultural biodiversity. An
international consortium chose a site on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.
Ice, snow, and frozen tundra covered the island. This extreme cold would
preserve the seeds stored there in case of an agricultural disaster. It houses over one million varieties of
seeds.
In 2017, global warming caused heavy rain on the island instead of the normal snowfall. The vault flooded, although the water did not reach the seeds. This led to researchers brainstorming a way to protect the seeds against such disasters. And, other researchers wanted to also preserve animals in danger of extinction by securely storing DNA in cryogenic deep freeze. But, where could such a repository be constructed that wouldn’t be at the mercy of power loss, wars, or global warming?
Many scientists are now considering the
Moon as the ideal location. At the Moon’s South Pole, astronomers have discovered
numerous craters that exist in perpetual shadow. Sunlight never reaches the
bottom of these craters. Since the Moon has no atmosphere to spread warmth from
the sun, these permanently shadowed regions remain at around -196 degrees, the
minimum needed to protect animal cells long-term.
Lunar craters near the South Pole that have permanently shadowed areas. Temperatures here never get above -195 degrees Fahrenheit.
This may seem like a wild idea, but as research scientist Mary Hagedorn, of the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington D.C. says, “It’s very good to have as many plans as possible, especially when it comes to saving our biodiversity and life on Earth.”
Scientists have numerous satellites orbiting the
Moon, and the data they send back just may help us save animals from extinction
and important agricultural plants from natural or manmade disasters.
Each month, I write an astronomy-related
column piece for the Oklahoman
newspaper. After publishing it there, I post that same column on my blog
page.
This is reprinted with permission from the Oklahoman and www.Oklahoman.com.
