Forget Noah's Ark! Scientists want to send frozen samples of endangered animals to the MOON for safekeeping in case of a global disaster on Earth

'Biorepository' of frozen animal cells stored on the moon could regenerate life Eccentric entrepreneurs like Elon Musk want to put people on the moon or Mars to ensure humanity survives a global climate disaster. This lunar vault would store cryopreserved cells of animal species, although other versions could potentially house frozen plant seeds too. At an average distance of 238,855 miles, the moon is far away enough from Earth to survive a climate breakdown that would wipe out animals Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores 'spare copies' of valuable plant seeds in the event that the originals are lost Pictured, a vault carved into the Arctic permafrost at Svalbard that's filled with samples of the world's most important seeds in case food crops are wiped out by a catastrophe Compared with seeds, animal cells require much lower storage temperatures for preservation. The samples will undergo radiation exposure testing to prepare for biological material to be sent to the moon Potentially samples would first be sent to the International Space Station to see how they'd withstand the space environment Eventually, the first load of cell samples from the most threatened species could be transported along with astronauts as part of future missions to the moon under NASA's Artemis programme.