A few years back I was trying to extract Tardigrades (Moss bear or Water piglet!)from old moss specimens at Manchester Museum – as it is reported that these animals can survive in a dehydrated state for over a hundred years. These are microscopic extremophiles that live in moss. I had no luck – but did find a multitude of other interesting microscopic artifacts. last night I found out that a satalite has been launched carrying a team of elite tardinauts into space to see if they are able to survive the solar radiation. “They also are resistant to levels of X-ray radiation that are hundreds of times more lethal to humans and other organisms. This resilience stems from the tardigrade’s ability to survive without water. ” If anything can survive the extreme conditions of open space – it will be Tardigrades- follow the link to this site to find out more…
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Tardigrades In Space or “TARDIS” is the first research project to evaluate the ability of tardigrades to survive under open space conditions. TARDIS is one of the projects within the Biopan-6 research platform provided by European Space Agency (ESA), and will be sent into space with the russian FOTON-M3 mission.
