Tardigrades are near-microscopic animals that can survive some of the most extreme conditions on Earth, including freezing temperatures, crushing pressures, and even the vacuum of space.
Microscopic water bears can enter a near-invincible tun state when stressed, enabling them to survive in the harshest conditions — including the vacuum of space. Now we know how.
Small space probes containing tardigrades could be propelled up to 30 per cent the speed of light into space, scientists at University of California, Santa Barbara have proposed.
We can’t help viewing tardigrades and seeing their resemblance to much larger animals, while at the same time they are distinct and already live in an “alien” world far away under a microscope. Then once you start reading about tardigrades, the fascination ramps up, because these guys are resilient.
Hugely resilient.
STOP MESSING WITH THE TARDIGRADES. One day they’re going to get sick of our clowning and they can’t be killed.https://t.co/jkJ2T6Wo07
Found everywhere on Earth, from rainforests to the Antarctic, “individual species [are] able to survive extreme conditions such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation that would quickly kill most other known forms of life,” Wikipedia tells us. Water bears have been exposed to space before. But this time, they’re part of a specific study at the ISS that NASA hopes could lead to helping humans adapt to extreme conditions as well