Alliance to Rescue Civilization

The Alliance to Rescue Civilization is an organization devoted to the establishment of an off-Earth "backup" of human civilization. This facility, or group of facilities, would serve to repopulate the Earth after a worldwide disaster or war, preserving as much as possible of both the sciences and the arts. The organization is currently calling that such a backup facility to be built on the moon in lieu of NASA's plan to return there by 2024. There is some doubt as to whether this organisation is genuine or whether its founders are simply playing an extended practical joke. 

It was founded by the author and journalist William E. Burrows and the biochemist Robert Shapiro.