Thanks to Israeli scientists, creatures from Earth now live on the moon. VIDEO

The tiny invertebrates, considered the most resilient creatures on Earth, were aboard the Israeli lunar rover Beresheet, which crashed during landing in April this year. The mission leader is convinced that they survived.

Фото: Depositphotos

American entrepreneur-innovator Nova Spivak, head of the biological project “Mission Ark”, who, in collaboration with SpaceIL and the Israeli Aerospace Industry, conducted an experiment and sent tardigrades to the Moon, placing them on board the Israeli spacecraft, is absolutely sure that they survived the crash and are now on the surface of the Earth's satellite.

These are the only creatures known to science that can survive freezing to absolute zero and heating to 150 degrees Celsius, strong radiation, lack of oxygen and water, and can survive for many years and even decades. Tardigrades do not adapt to extreme conditions, but fall into cryptobiosis - deep hibernation. In this state, which is very similar to death, vital functions are suspended and their metabolic rate drops to 0,01% of normal.

With a size of less than 1 millimeter, the “water bear” has a head and eight legs. In harsh conditions, the animal loses both its head and limbs, but is then able to regenerate them.

Rolled in amber and scotch tape

Tardigrades can be dried. During dehydration in its cells, water is replaced by a protein, which keeps the cell viable. To then revive the invertebrate (genetically close to roundworms), a few drops of water are enough.

In a state of cryptobiosis, hundreds of tardigrades were placed by scientists on board the Bereshit spacecraft. Some of them were melted inside artificial amber, some were glued to Kapton tape, which can withstand large temperature changes.

“We are confident that the chances of survival of tardigrades [on the lunar surface] are extremely high,” Spivak said.

His fund is a reserve collection of the gene pool of living creatures of our planet, sending biosamples to different places in the solar system, so that there is a chance to revive them in the event of a sudden catastrophe on Earth.

The Bereshit also carried a bank of scientific data about the history of mankind and the structure of human DNA, recorded on a disk with a volume similar to 30 million paper pages, to the Moon.

Since "water bears" successfully survived an experiment in outer space back in 2007, they became the best - and only - candidates for participation in the Ark Mission project.

“Tardigrades are ideal for this task—they are microscopic, multicellular, and one of the toughest creatures on Earth,” says Nova Spivak.

But it is unlikely that the tardigrades that fell on the lunar surface during the Bereshit accident scattered across it and colonized the lunar craters. To emerge from hibernation, they need contact with water.

It is theoretically possible at any landing on the Moon in the future to collect pieces of amber and an adhesive film with slow-moving, bring it back to Earth and study the consequences of being on the Moon for a living organism.

After past experiments with spacewalks, tardigrades even brought healthy offspring.

Read also on ForumDaily:

The moon shrinks and trembles: what is happening and whether to worry

If not to America, then: a guide to 13 countries for a potential immigrant

7 come from Ukraine, who created the American cinema

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.