Nuclear war erupts or an asteroid sends us the way of the dinosaurs

核戰爭爆發或小行星將我們送上恐龍之路

or some other great calamity wipes out not just humanity,

或其他巨大的災難，不僅消滅了人類。

but all life on Earth.

而是地球上的所有生命。

Could there still be hope for us if there was some sort of backup, like an external hard drive or a cloud save... but for a planet?

如果有某種備份，像外部硬盤或雲端保存......但對一個星球來說，我們是否還有希望？

That's what some scientists proposed in March of this year, and they think the best place to keep our second chance safe

這就是一些科學家在今年3月提出的建議，他們認為保持我們第二次機會安全的最佳地點是

is the moon.

是月亮。

The idea of a doomsday vault isn't far-fetched at all.

末日金庫的想法一點都不牽強。

There's one such place north of continental Norway, tucked inside a mountain on an archipelago called Svalbard.

在挪威大陸以北有一個這樣的地方，藏在一個叫斯瓦爾巴群島的山裡。

This vault was designed to store seeds from every important variety of crop from around the world

這個保險庫旨在儲存來自世界各地的每一個重要作物品種的種子。

in the event that some disaster destroys a vital food source.

在一些災難摧毀了重要的食物來源的情況下。

It has space for 4.5 million crop varieties and the ability to keep the samples frozen even without power.

它擁有450萬個作物品種的空間，即使沒有電源也能保持樣品的冷凍。

It's an invaluable resource in the event of a smaller-scale or localized disaster.

在發生較小規模或局部的災難時，這是一個寶貴的資源。

But if there truly is a doomsday that plunges the entire Earth into chaos,

但是，如果真的有一個使整個地球陷入混亂的末日。

a vault with only crop seeds may not be enough to save us.

一個只有農作物種子的金庫可能不足以拯救我們。

That's why on March 7th, 2021, a group of scientists proposed plans to build a true absolute worst-case-scenario vault.

這就是為什麼在2021年3月7日，一群科學家提出了建立一個真正的絕對最壞情況下的保險庫的計劃。

Svalbard may seem about as secure as anything can get, what with it being under a mountain above the Arctic Circle.

斯瓦爾巴群島似乎是最安全的地方，因為它位於北極圈上的一座山下。

But it's not invulnerable.

但它並不是無懈可擊的。

Rising sea levels or a well-aimed asteroid could render all efforts to preserve those seeds fruitless.

海平面上升或一顆目標明確的小行星可能會使保護這些種子的所有努力無果。

Since nowhere on Earth is safe enough, the vault would need to be somewhere off-planet.

由於地球上沒有任何地方是足夠安全的，所以保險庫需要在星外的某個地方。

So, even though it sounds loony, the researchers concluded the logical place for this vault of vaults is the moon.

是以，儘管聽起來很瘋狂，研究人員得出結論，這個金庫的合理位置是月球。

Of course, that brings up a whole host of other issues, like getting everything up there. And I do mean everything.

當然，這帶來了一大堆其他問題，比如把所有東西都搬上去。我是說所有的東西。

The scientists didn't just propose saving a slice of life on Earth, like the seeds that are important for food.

科學家們並不只是提議拯救地球上的一片生命，比如對食物很重要的種子。

They want to preserve all of it.

他們想保留所有的東西。

As many as 6.7 million different species of plants, animals, and fungi that can be found on Earth

在地球上可以找到多達670萬種不同的植物、動物和真菌

would have their DNA cryogenically frozen at minus 196 degrees Celsius and shot to the moon.

將把他們的DNA低溫冷凍在零下196攝氏度，然後射向月球。

By the researcher's estimates, that would require at least 250 rocket launches.

根據研究人員的估計，這將需要至少250次火箭發射。

Once on the moon, the samples can't just be put in a bag and tossed on the moon's surface. What are they, the bags of poop left behind by the Apollo astronauts?

一旦上了月球，就不能把樣品裝進袋子裡，扔在月球表面。它們是什麼？"阿波羅 "號太空人留下的大便袋？

Fortunately, the moon has a useful feature that could come in handy.

幸運的是，月球有一個有用的功能，可以派上用場。

Under its surface are lava tubes so cavernous that whole cities could fit inside.

在它的表面下是熔岩管道，其空洞程度可以容納整個城市。

These tubes could make the ideal place to build an enormous vault that would shield its contents from solar radiation and meteor strikes.

這些管子可以成為建造一個巨大的保險庫的理想場所，以保護其內容免受太陽輻射和流星撞擊。

The scientists envision the underground storage would be connected to a lunar base via elevators.

科學家們設想，地下倉庫將通過電梯連接到月球基地。

The surface facility would have solar panels and the means to communicate with Earth so the vault could be remotely monitored and maintained.

地面設施將有太陽能電池板和與地球通信的手段，是以可以對保險庫進行遠程監控和維護。

The robots taking care of the place and retrieving samples would also have to withstand the extreme cold needed to store the DNA.

照顧地方和檢索樣本的機器人也必須能夠承受儲存DNA所需的極度寒冷。

Researchers suggest they would have to levitate to avoid being cold-welded to the floor.

研究人員建議他們必須懸浮起來，以避免被冷焊在地板上。

They propose using magnetic fields to levitate superconductors, which need to be kept at extremely low temps anyway.

他們建議使用磁場來懸浮超導體，反正超導體需要保持在極低的溫度。

I think you get the idea that this plan is—as of right now—pretty much pie in the sky.

我想你會明白，這個計劃是--就目前而言--相當多的天空中的餡餅。

The technology needed to make a lot of it happen just doesn't exist yet.

使很多事情發生所需的技術只是還不存在。

The researchers suggest that it could be possible in the next 30 years, but they're not the first to put forward the idea of a lunar ark.

研究人員表示，這在未來30年內是可能的，但他們並不是第一個提出月球方舟想法的人。

The same month Svalbard opened in 2008, another group suggested a similar idea,

在2008年斯瓦爾巴群島開放的同一個月，另一個團體提出了一個類似的想法。

albeit using hard drives instead of frozen DNA,

儘管使用硬盤而不是冷凍的DNA。

and they predicted it would be possible by 2020.

並且他們預測到2020年就能實現。

Unless I missed something, that plan didn't come to pass.

除非我錯過了什麼，否則這個計劃並沒有實現。

So, until there's a reset button humanity can press in a last ditch effort to save Earth from annihilation—

是以，在有一個重置按鈕之前，人類可以在最後的努力中按下它，以挽救地球免遭毀滅--

and who knows if there ever will be one—

誰知道是否會有一個

let's just do our best not to wreck the place, okay?

讓我們盡力不破壞這個地方，好嗎？

I mentioned cities could fit inside the moon's lava tubes, so what if we actually did that?

我提到城市可以裝在月球的熔岩管道內，那麼如果我們真的這樣做了呢？

Check out Trace's video on a tubular lunar colony here.

在這裡查看Trace關於管狀月球殖民地的視頻。

Thanks so much for watching Seeker, make sure to subscribe and leave a comment and tell us all your thoughts,

非常感謝你觀看《尋人啟事》，請務必訂閱，並留下評論，告訴我們你的所有想法。

and keep coming back because I will see you next time on Seeker!

並繼續回來，因為我將在Seeker上看到你的下一次!