Unique creatures landed on the Moon five years ago: Could they have already colonized the Moon (photo)

Recently, the first private lander in history to land on the Moon was American Odyssey. But even 5 years ago, Israel’s special landing module “Beresheet”, which entered the orbit of the Moon at the end of February 2019, could have gone down in history. Among other cargo on the ship were small creatures called tardigrades, known to survive in the harshest climates. What happened to them? Could these creatures have colonized the Moon? This is what microbiologist Laurent Palka of France’s National Museum of Natural History talks about, writes Space.

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Accident on the Moon

After the Beresheet spacecraft reached the Moon’s orbit, it experienced problems with its navigation system and, after a while, with its engine. As a result, on April 11, 2019, the landing module could not land on the Moon normally and crashed on its surface. During the impact, the vehicle’s debris was scattered over a distance of approximately 100 meters, as images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show.

So what happened to the tardigrades in the Beresheet module? It is known that they can survive in the harshest environmental conditions, but can they survive the disaster, reproduce and even colonize the Moon?

tardigrades

Tardigrades have a body length of less than 1 mm, have two eyes, a mouth opening, an intestine and four pairs of legs. These creatures have a common ancestor with insects and spiders. Most tardigrades live in water, but they can also be found in other environments on Earth. To maintain an active lifestyle, to feed, move, grow and reproduce, tardigrades need to be surrounded by a layer of water. These creatures can reproduce both normally and without fertilizing the egg, or even by self-fertilization. Tardigrades can live between 3 and 30 months.

Tardigrades are known to survive in a wide range of conditions because they have the ability to lose up to 95% of their body water by shutting down their metabolism. After losing almost all of its water, the tardigrade’s body shrinks by half and the creature falls into suspended animation, from which it emerges when environmental conditions become suitable for later life. Dehydrated adults survive for a few minutes at temperatures ranging from minus 272 degrees Celsius to plus 150 degrees Celsius and for long periods at high doses of gamma radiation.

Can Tardigrades Colonize the Moon?

To survive on the Moon and be buried beneath the lunar regolith, tardigrades had to survive the impact on the lunar surface. Studies show that tardigrades in suspended animation can survive hitting a sandy surface, even if they fall at a speed of no higher than 2600 km/h. The Bereshit device fell at a much lower speed. Although the surface of the Moon is not protected from harmful solar and cosmic radiation, as well as gamma rays, tardigrades can survive.

If these creatures had survived the impact, they would have had to endure a lack of water as well as temperatures ranging from minus 170 to minus 190 degrees Celsius during the night on the Moon and plus 100 to plus 120 degrees Celsius during the day. Day and night on the Moon last almost 15 Earth days.

Unfortunately, tardigrades cannot survive in the absence of water, oxygen, and microalgae, as these are the necessary conditions to emerge from suspended animation and begin reproducing. Therefore, colonization of the Moon by tardigrades did not occur. Although, most likely, small creatures in suspended animation may still be on the surface of the Moon.

As I already wrote FocusNASA is sending a unique lunar rover to Earth’s moon that will search for water and other valuable resources on Earth’s moon for 100 days.