As rising sea temperatures and pollution continue to rapidly degrade the world’s coral reefs unprecedented ratescientists are investigating the feasibility of preserving them in the external environment space.
The idea is to store a biorepository (a biobank that cools samples of biological material to low enough temperatures and essentially suspends them in time) inside permanently shadowed craters on the moon, whose frigid temperatures scientists say would be suitable to preserve such a facility. hundreds of years. In this case, samples containing coral genetic material will be sent back. Soil on demand and is being reseeded in our oceans to restore vibrant reefs.
“There is no place in the world cold enough” Mary Hagedorna senior research scientist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute told Space.com. This includes the coldest regions on our planet (the north and south poles) and are warming rapidly due to climate change Faster than any other region in the world.
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So it’s unlikely scientists could preserve samples at the necessary cold temperatures for hundreds of years, Hagedorn said. “Who knows what the poles will be like? They fastest changing“
The technique scientists use to freeze and preserve is similar to the procedures used in human sperm banks. coral germ cells (sperm and larvae) involves cooling samples to temperatures close to the temperature of liquid nitrogen, measured at -196 degrees Celsius (-320 degrees Fahrenheit). Even the coldest place on earth would feel warm in comparison. The East Antarctic Plateau, for example, has a bone-chilling temperature of -98 degrees Celsius (-144 degrees Fahrenheit).
However, craters in the moon’s polar regions never receive direct sunlight due to the moon’s axis being almost perfectly perpendicular to the Moon’s orientation. Sun‘light. Temperatures there drop to -250 degrees Celsius (-415 degrees Fahrenheit), making them one of the hottest climates in the world. The coldest places in our solar system. Hagedorn argues that these conditions are suitable for preserving frozen samples for hundreds of years.
‘Frozen and alive’
Hagedorn, an expert on cryopreservation, said the standard practice of freezing and preserving biological material, known as cryopreservation, pauses all biological activity so that samples remain “frozen and alive.” “It’s as if you pressed the time button and said, ‘Okay, stop now.'”
So far scientists collected He took samples of live colonies, skeletons and genetic material from 200 coral species and stored them safely – but to put this in perspective, there are only about 1,000 known coral species worldwide, so that leaves around 800 coral species to preserve. This urgency to harvest remaining species is further emphasized by the fact that marine heatwaves as a result of global warming are placing biological stress on corals, “making their reproductive material too weak to withstand the rigors of freezing and thawing,” Hagedorn said. wrote in an article Published on The Conversation in mid-April.
Hagedorn is part of a team so far More than 50 coral species have been cryopreserved From the Great Barrier Reef, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico, among other places. The samples are held in biorepositories around the world, but their presence on Earth makes them susceptible to the dire effects of climate change. climate change, said. For example, in 2017, meltwater from Arctic permafrost melted due to extreme temperatures. violated A secure Norwegian biorepository. This was a biobank preserving copies of the world’s crop species; Fortunately no seeds were reported lost, but the risk was high. MoonFortunately, we would not experience these problems.
Storage services on the moon
Sending a box of frozen living cells to a dark part of the Moon poses its own set of challenges, and scientists are still trying to figure out the blueprints. First, the biobank must be covered in radiation-resistant packaging to protect frozen samples during storage. time On the moon, which is airless and therefore highly susceptible to sun damage. Another concern is how the biorepository could be located in a lunar crater, given that the ice-layered floors of these features make it difficult for astronauts to navigate. Hagedorn said this could be a job for robots, such as dog-shaped robots. NASA is work on One day, they’ll explore dangerous areas on the moon—possibly with their robot friends.
As an experiment, Hagedorn spearheaded the following effort: 10 fins were collected and frozen Starry gobys are tiny fish whose bodies are covered in iridescent blue spots. They are abundant near coral reef habitats.
Eventually, he hopes to find funding and partners to test how these samples work under simulated space-like conditions on Earth. Then, a trial run on International Space station (ISS) will show how different the returned samples are compared to their Earth counterparts, which can then guide packaging requirements – that is, if the ISS still exists. Hagedorn estimates that sending samples to the ISS will take between three and five years after receiving funding; Planned retirement of the ISS In 2030.
Still, he said, “it’s easier than trying to decide where to go on the Moon and how to get there.” Managing the facility’s travel and location on the moon “will be very complex and could take years.”
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Hagedorn is not the only researcher investigating the feasibility of a lunar biorepository. In 2021, University of Arizona researcher Jekan Thanga proposed sending a ship full of cryogenically frozen seeds, sperm and eggs of 6.7 million Earth species to lava tubes on the moon as a “modern global insurance policy.” his team estimated such an effort would require launching 250 rockets; For context, building the ISS required 40 launches over ten years.
If a lunar biorepository is ever successful (the goal is undoubtedly large), scientists hope it could serve as a safeguard against the loss of not only corals but also millions of other species. maybe even people.
However, not everyone agrees that this is a good suggestion. “I don’t think so [the] It’s the right idea for now,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. CBS News. “I think we really need to focus on protecting more of the natural world so we don’t lose species in the first place.”