SoylentNews

Lunar Crash may have Seeded Indestructible ‘Water Bears’ on the Moon

posted by martyb on Tuesday August 06 2019, @11:35PM   
from the unbearable dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://globalnews.ca/news/5730770/tardigrades-on-moon/

A tiny species of nearly indestructible creatures may have just taken over the moon before humans — although we have no one but ourselves to blame.

Thousands of microscopic tardigrades likely survived a lunar lander crash into the moon last April, according to the founder of an Earth archive project.

The Israeli-run lunar lander, dubbed Beresheet, was supposed to be the first privately-funded spacecraft to touch down on the moon. Its payload included a DVD-sized library created by the Arch Mission Foundation, which contained vast troves of information and thousands of dehydrated tardigrades.

The spacecraft slammed into the lunar surface on April 11 after operators lost control of it during the final landing sequence.

---

Original Submission

• New Charity: (Score: 3, Funny) by Hartree on Wednesday August 07 2019, @04:26PM

  by Hartree (195) on Wednesday August 07 2019, @04:26PM (#877142)

  Support going back to the moon to save the tardigrades! Can you look away from poor stranded water bears? Give generously to our gofundme to mount a rescue mission!

  A waterbear may be somebody's mother! One might even be your brother!

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+1
  Funny=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Funny' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		3