Tardigrades survived ten days exposed to open space

Animals were opened to the vacuum of space. They came back and laid eggs. Tardigrades — microscopic eight-legged animals — were bolted to the outside of a spacecraft in trays open to the void. The TARDIS experiment flew on ESA's Biopan-6 platform during the FOTON-M3 mission in September 2007. Desiccated adults of two species were exposed to space vacuum and UV radiation at 258–281 km altitude for ten days. Those shielded from solar UV survived at rates similar to Earthbound controls and laid eggs that hatched normally after rehydration. Crucially, the animals were dehydrated before launch — the experiment did not test whether an active, hydrated tardigrade could survive.

Tardigrades survived ten days exposed to open space

0 responses