Have tardigrades colonized the moon?

[Cindy Claveau]

Could tardigrades have colonized the moon?

Just over five years ago, on 22 February 2019, an unmanned space probe was placed in orbit around the Moon. Named Beresheet and built by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, it was intended to be the first private spacecraft to perform a soft landing. Among the probe’s payload were tardigrades, renowed for their ability to survive in even the harshest climates.

The mission ran into trouble from the start, with the failure of “star tracker” cameras intended to determine the spacecraft’s orientation and thus properly control its motors. Budgetary limitations had imposed a pared-down design, and while the command center was able to work around some problems, things got even trickier on 11 April, the day of the landing.

On the way to the Moon the spacecraft had been travelling at high speed, and it needed to be slowed way down to make a soft landing. Unfortunately during the braking manoeuvre a gyroscope failed, blocking the primary engine. At an altitude of 150 m, Beresheet was still moving at 500 km/h, far too fast to be stopped in time. The impact was violent – the probe shattered and its remains were scattered over a distance of around a hundred metres. We know this because the site was photographed by NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) satellite on 22 April.

So what happened to the tardigrades that were travelling on the probe? Given their remarkable abilities to survive situations that would kill pretty much any other animal, could they have contaminated the Moon? Worse, might they be able to reproduce and colonize it?

Tardigrades are microscopic animals that measure less than a millimetre in length. All have neurons, a mouth opening at the end of a retractable proboscis, an intestine containing a microbiota and four pairs of non-articulated legs ending in claws, and most have two eyes. As small as they are, they share a common ancestor with arthropods such as insects and arachnids.

 

[Free]

I for one welcome our new Lunar Tardigrade overlords.

 

[Ghost Pepper]

They still need organic matter to survive but I read that some species will eat each other.

25 of your most frequently asked questions about tardigrades answered!

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

They still need organic matter to survive but I read that some species will eat each other.

Well there you see, problem solved

 

[Sid]

Did they bring spacesuits for moon walks?

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Technically they may be still alive in hibernation but I don't think there's anything for them to eat and breed and, you know, actually colonize it...

 

[Noodles]

They still need organic matter to survive but I read that some species will eat each other.

25 of your most frequently asked questions about tardigrades answered!

Would that work long term without other input of material? Like they reproduce, but to reproduce they have to each other, and at some point there just, isn't enough material/ene gym to keep this p ocess self sustaining

 

[Casey Pelous]

There are those bags of the astronauts left up there .... if the tardigrades find them ....

 

[Caete]

There are those bags of the astronauts left up there .... if the tardigrades find them ....

Don't forget the moonbases! So many flavours!