SoylentNews

An Anonymous Coward writes:

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

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