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ESA's Scientist Suggests A Noah's Ark On the Moon

Posted by timothy on from the cold-crispy-critters dept.

13.7BillionYears writes "Many are familiar with a supermarket tabloid (whose name eludes me) offering ridiculous headlines, one of the most famous being 'Noah's Ark Found on the Moon!' In an ironic twist, that one may yet come to pass. The BBC reports that the European Space Agency's chief scientist, Dr. Bernard Foing, has said that there should be a Noah's Ark on the Moon consisting of a repository for the DNA of every single species of plant and animal, in case the Earth is destroyed by an asteroid or nuclear holocaust. One wonders how you'd go about indexing every life form including undiscovered species and how you'd protect the DNA from radiation."

3 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. ESA by Pi_0's+don't+shower · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wish that they would publicize the things that the ESA does well, such as the upcoming Herschel mission, the upcoming Planck space satellite (the successor to WMAP and COBE), etc. Instead all we hear about in the US is a disappointing garbage idea like this (with no scientific merit) and the disaster of the BEAGLE 2. Come on, people. Don't take this seriously (and if you have the power, don't support this) -- this is basically a time capsule. Whatever we do to our Earth, I'm still sure it will provide a better record of life on Earth than whatever we might drop on the moon.

  2. Terrestrial sites? by betelgeuse-4 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wouldn't a location (or several) underneath the surface of the earth be better. The rock would protect against a lot of radiation (and getting lead down there would be easier than getting it to the moon) and there are places where the digging has already been done. Any event that can destroy a number of sites located around the world would probably also have a serious affect on the moon wouldn't it?

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    Decode these
  3. On the Moon? by hike2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And the real purpose would be?
    Say the Earth is destroyed or afflicted by one of the things mentioned, then WHO is going to take advantage of that repository?
    Say somehow some people survive. The next question is HOW are they going to use that to rebuild?
    Interesting idea but I think just a *little* bit early for its time

    A
    P.S.: If the Sun goes then that was pointless anyway. I say make it hang-out a nova-safe distance somewhere in space ...

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    Fourty-two!