Posted on 08/06/2019 4:35:57 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Beresheet was a robotic lander. Though it didn't transport astronauts, it carried human DNA samples, along with the aforementioned tardigrades and 30 million very small digitized pages of information about human society and culture. However, it's unknown if the archive — and the water bears — survived the explosive impact when Beresheet crashed
The tardigrades and the human DNA were late additions to the mission, added just a few weeks before Beresheet launched on Feb. 21. Much like Cretaceous fossils locked in amber, the DNA samples and tardigrades were sealed in a resin layer protecting the DVD-size lunar library, while thousands more tardigrades were poured onto the sticky tape that held the archive in place
Tardigrades can survive conditions that would be deadly to any other form of life, weathering temperature extremes of minus 328 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 200 degrees Celsius) to more than 300 F (149 C). They also handily survive exposure to the radiation and vacuum of space.
Another tardigrade superpower is their ability to dehydrate their bodies into a state known as a "tun." They retract their heads and legs, expel the water from their bodies and shrivel up into a tiny ball — and scientists have found that tardigrades can revive from this dehydrated state after 10 years or more.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
LOL!
I presume waterbears can fit in a human-aupporting ecology.
So ...”good news!”
Star Trek Discovery?
“can revive from this dehydrated state after 10 years or more”
- -
Tardigrades are the ramen of the animal world
Much ado over....
200 years too soon..................
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