"Water Bears" First Animals to Survive Trip Into Space Naked

Adam Korbitz writes "New Scientist and Science Daily are reporting the results of an intriguing experiment in which scientists launched tardigrades or 'water bears' — tiny invertebrates about one millimeter long — into space onboard the European Space Agency's FOTON-M3 spacecraft. After 10 days in the vacuum of space, the satellite returned to Earth and the tardigrades were recovered. The tardigrades survived the vacuum just fine, but exposure to the Sun's ultraviolet radiation proved deadly for most of the water bears. However, some did survive. The tardigrades are the first animals to have survived such an experiment, a feat previously achieved only by lichens and bacteria."

Comments

Next step

[MyLongNickName]

Allow these water bears to reproduce, and take them back up. Rinse lather repeat, and we will have creatures capable of surviving long durations in space.

Re:You Fools!

[PlatyPaul]

You do raise a valid point about panspermia theory, oddly enough: escaping life from an extraterrestrial source could actually evolve (or at least perform selection) en route to its final destination. Given sufficient distances to be traveled (and that some of the original life survives), the "hardened" life forms that landed would be more likely to be adaptable to the necessary conditions at the destination.

One serious question to consider is: should we attempt to trigger artificial panspermia? Is it unethical?