The European Space Agency's chief scientist has said that there should be a Noah's Ark on the Moon, in case the Earth is destroyed by an asteroid or nuclear holocaust.
Speaking exclusively to BBC News at the British Association Science Festival, Dr Bernard Foing said that the ark should be a repository for the DNA of every single species of plant and animal. Dr Foing is head of Europe's Moon missions, so his thoughts on matters lunar should be taken seriously.
But ... what, precisely would this ark do on the moon? It's not as if any of the creatures on this planet could survive there. (Including us, for that matter.) Assuming that, after some major catastrophe that the Earth's biosphere was eventually reinhabitable, it would almost certainly take decades, generations, before you could get the creatures back down. And how, in a society that's no longer around, do you sustain sufficient technology to repopulate the earth with enough animals and plants? How do you even pick the right ones?
Really, quite the remarkable proposal.
Posted by iain at September 08, 2004 10:54 AM
