Tiny 'water bears' may be alive on moon after crash landing
- 5 years ago
MOON — Earth's most indestructible organisms have crashed into the moon, and may still be alive.
CNN reports that thousands of micro creatures called tardigrades were onboard Israel's Beresheet spacecraft when it crash landed on the moon in April.
According to the BBC, tardigrades are about a millimeter-long, with eight legs, claws, and a sucker-like pharynx to spear prey. They are more commonly known as water bears or moss piglets.
CNN reports that they live in water or on plants like lichen or moss, can withstand being heated to 150 degrees Celsius, and frozen to almost absolute zero.
The non-profit Arch Mission Foundation dehydrated the water bears, which caused the organisms to enter a state of suspended animation, where metabolism lowers to 0.01% of the normal rate.
They were then encased in amber and loaded onto the Beresheet, along with a 30-million page archive of human history called the lunar library.
Since the tardigrades are resilient, researchers say it's likely they survived the crash. But they will need to be reintroduced to water in order to reanimate.
Until then, guess the little buggers will just be chilling out on the moon. Though if something else gets them first, it could just be a sci-fi horror movie come to life.
CNN reports that thousands of micro creatures called tardigrades were onboard Israel's Beresheet spacecraft when it crash landed on the moon in April.
According to the BBC, tardigrades are about a millimeter-long, with eight legs, claws, and a sucker-like pharynx to spear prey. They are more commonly known as water bears or moss piglets.
CNN reports that they live in water or on plants like lichen or moss, can withstand being heated to 150 degrees Celsius, and frozen to almost absolute zero.
The non-profit Arch Mission Foundation dehydrated the water bears, which caused the organisms to enter a state of suspended animation, where metabolism lowers to 0.01% of the normal rate.
They were then encased in amber and loaded onto the Beresheet, along with a 30-million page archive of human history called the lunar library.
Since the tardigrades are resilient, researchers say it's likely they survived the crash. But they will need to be reintroduced to water in order to reanimate.
Until then, guess the little buggers will just be chilling out on the moon. Though if something else gets them first, it could just be a sci-fi horror movie come to life.