Astronomy:Tardigrades on the Moon

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Short description: Possibly lunar-lander-crash-surviving tardigrades

On April 11 2019, the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crashed into the Moon during a failed landing attempt.[1] Its payload included a few thousand tardigrades. Initial reports suggested they could have survived the crash landing.[2][3][4] If any of them did survive, they would be the second animal species to reach the moon, after humans.

We believe the chances of survival for the tardigrades... are extremely high.
Scanning electron microscope image of a tardigrade
Tardigrade as seen under a scanning electron microscope
Full size model of the Beresheet Moon lander
Full size model of the Beresheet Moon lander

Crash

The lander crash-landed on the surface of the moon on April 11, 2019 due to technical problems and hit the surface at more than 3,000 km/h.[5]

Tardigrade hardiness

Tardigrades can withstand extremely low temperatures close to absolute zero[6] and high temperatures up to over 400 K.[7] In comparison, temperatures on the moon range from 140 K at night to 400 K during the day.[8] They are also able to survive large doses of ionizing radiation and the vacuum of outer space.[7][9][3]

Tardigrades can undergo all five types of cryptobiosis, reducing their metabolism to less than 0.01% and their water content to 1% compared to their normal state.[7][10] They can be revived from this state even decades later.[11]

2021 tardigrade bullet research

In 2021, researchers at the Queen Mary University of London placed tardigrades in hollow nylon bullets and fired them into sand targets. The tested tardigrades were able to survive impacts of up to 3,000 km/h and momentary shock pressures of up to 1.14 GPa. The results suggest the tardigrades were unlikely to survive the crash because the shock pressure of the lander's metal frame hitting the surface would have been well above 1.14 GPa.[10]

Possible contamination

The possibility of surviving tardigrades raised concerns about possible contamination of the moon with biological material.[5] If recovered and hydrated they could be awakened, but this is unlikely to happen because of the lack of liquid water on the moon.[11]

Spilling tardigrades across the moon is legal.[12][13] The Outer Space Treaty only explicitly bans weapons and experiments or tools that could interfere with other missions.[1] Large space agencies typically follow guidelines for sterilizing mission equipment, but there is no single entity to enforce these rules globally.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 published, Mindy Weisberger (2019-08-06). "Thousands of Tardigrades Stranded on the Moon After Lunar Lander Crash" (in en). https://www.livescience.com/66109-tardigrades-moon-israeli-lander.html. 
  2. ↑ "Tardigrades: 'Water bears' stuck on the moon after crash" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2019-08-07. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-49265125. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Resnick, Brian (2019-08-06). "Tardigrades, the toughest animals on Earth, have crash-landed on the moon" (in en). https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/8/6/20756844/tardigrade-moon-beresheet-arch-mission. 
  4. ↑ "Did these tardigrades survive crash-landing on the moon?" (in en-US). 2019-08-14. https://earthsky.org/human-world/tardigrades-lunar-library-beresheet-spacecraft-crash-moon/. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "What Happened to Beresheet?" (in en-US). 2020-02-20. https://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/en/online/sciencepanorama/what-happened-beresheet. 
  6. ↑ "Tardigrade | Facts & Lifespan | Britannica" (in en). 2023-04-28. https://www.britannica.com/animal/tardigrade. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Tardigrades" (in en). https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigrade/index.html. 
  8. ↑ Urrutia, Doris Elin; updated, Tim Sharp last (2022-02-28). "What is the Temperature on the Moon?" (in en). https://www.space.com/18175-moon-temperature.html. 
  9. ↑ "Space creatures" (in en-GB). BBC Nature. 2011-05-17. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Hardy water bears survive bullet impacts—up to a point" (in en). https://www.science.org/content/article/hardy-water-bears-survive-bullet-impacts-point. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 published, Mindy Weisberger (2019-08-15). "There Are Thousands of Tardigrades on the Moon. Now What?" (in en). https://www.livescience.com/moon-tardigrades-future.html. 
  12. ↑ Oberhaus, Daniel. "A Crashed Israeli Spacecraft Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon" (in en-US). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/story/a-crashed-israeli-lunar-lander-spilled-tardigrades-on-the-moon/. 
  13. ↑ published, Yasemin Saplakoglu (2019-08-13). "Tardigrades and Poop: What Does Space Law Say About Moon Clutter?" (in en). https://www.livescience.com/tardigrades-things-can-leave-on-moon.html. 




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