In an ambitious effort to protect Earth’s biodiversity, scientists are proposing the creation of a lunar biorepository — a vault on the moon that would store the cryopreserved cells of millions of animal species.

The proposed biorepository would house frozen cells from a wide range of animals, including mammals, reptiles, birds, and amphibians, in an effort to ensure the survival of diverse animal life in the event of a catastrophic climate disaster on Earth.

The cells could potentially be cloned to recreate species, either back on Earth or on another celestial body, should life on our planet face extinction.

Researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute at Washington, D.C., have detailed their plan in a paper published in BioScience.

They acknowledge that establishing a biorepository on the moon would be significantly more expensive — about five times the cost of one on Earth. However, the lunar vault would be cheaper to maintain in the long run due to the moon’s frigid conditions.

The scientists suggest situating the biorepository in the moon’s polar regions, which contain craters permanently shadowed from sunlight. These areas can reach temperatures of -410°F, ideal for cryopreservation without the need for electricity.

Lead author Mary Hagedorn, a cryobiologist at the institute, emphasized that the initial focus would be on preserving the most at-risk species.

The researchers have already cryopreserved skin samples from a reef fish called the starry goby, specifically targeting fin cells known as fibroblasts.