Here's How Tardigrades Were Secretly Smuggled To The Moon + By Chris Taylor 7 months, 3 weeks. Tardigrades - often called water bears - are creatures under a millimetre long that can survive being heated to 150C and frozen to almost absolute zero. These beasties are called tardigrades, or water bears, and were sent to the moon aboard an Israeli spacecraft in a state of suspended animation. On the left screen was a stream of data being sent back to Earth by Beresheet, its lunar lander, which was about to become the first private spacecraft to land on the moon. But why send tardigrades to the moon? The water bears were traveling to the moon, along with human DNA. So they are important in that sense… Other than that- Study? They were travelling on an Israeli spacecraft that crash-landed on the moon in April. Tardigrades are little bugs that can be virtually dead and come back to life when their environment improves. And now, it … Why was is not considered the same to that on a mission to the moon? Tardigrades can survive conditions that would be deadly to any other form of life, weathering temperature extremes of minus-328 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-200 degrees Celsius) to more than 300 F (149 C). They also handily survive exposure to the radiation and vacuum of space. Which is interesting enough in itself, but even more fascinating is why Israeli scientists sent them to the moon in the first place. The right screen featured a crude animation of Beresheet firing its engines as it prepared for a soft landing in the Sea of Serenity. In doing so, it may have strewn the lunar surface with thousands … The tardigrades weren’t sent to the Moon just for fun. For starters, their metabolism decreases by 99.9 percent. They are just super interesting… There is little/no reason for them to have adapted the way they have. Tardigrades, also known as moss piglets, are microscopic creatures measuring between 0.002 and 0.05 inches (0.05 to 1.2 millimeters) long. When they enter this type of hibernation they’re called tuns, and they were in that state when sent to the moon. A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon The Beresheet lunar lander carried thousands of books, DNA samples, and a few thousand water bears to the moon. Humans first brought life to the moon — in the form of microbes hiding in feces and other human waste — 50 years ago, with the Apollo missions. But why send tardigrades to the moon? It may not be smart to add more, but nature probably beat us to it anyway The moon formed more than 4 billion years ago. The Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crashed into the moon during a failed landing attempt on April 11. But there’s more going on than just pulling in their legs. And even if he did, he knew it would sound implausibly Star Wars-esque. Tardigrades Were Already on the Moon. They can live for very long time anaerobically. Moreover, there are some deeper problems here. When the tardigrades were placed on the Israeli moon mission Beresheet, they were in a tun state — dehydrated, with their chubby limbs and heads retracted and all metabolic activity temporarily suspended. They were travelling on an Israeli spacecraft that crash-landed on the moon in April. That's why we are quickly becoming more and more interested in what lies beyond our humble planet, and how we can go about traveling through space to these other … Tardigrades, also known as moss piglets, are microscopic creatures measuring between 0.002 and 0.05 inches (0.05 to 1.2 millimeters) long. If you can’t send tardigrades to the Moon, you can’t send people to the Moon. I will not argue the fact that there were two shadows of the stone or the flag fluttering on moon. Tardigrades are probably the weirdest animal you've never heard of, and could well be resilient enough to survive life on the moon. It was part of a project to “back up the Earth.” In the same way that you back up your hard drive in case it fails, the scientists were trying to provide a way to re-boot the whole planet if we succeed in destroying it. [8 Reasons Why We Love Tardigrades] The tardigrades and the human DNA were late additions to the mission, added just a few weeks before Beresheet launched on Feb. 21. And they’re not the only things that the Arch Mission Foundation sent there onboard Beresheet. My argument is based on man's psychology, once they'd found the way and means to reach to the moon, why didn't the Americans did it for the second time or the Russian emulated the feat of their arch rival. For the last four months, Nova Spivack has been busting with a cosmic secret he couldn't tell the world. When you look up at the moon, there may now be a few thousand water bears looking back at you. Their arrival on the moon was unexpectedly explosive; (Tardigrades, incredibly, have evolved a unique radiation shield.) Many creatures eat them. And they’re not the only things that the Arch Mission Foundation sent there onboard Beresheet. It may not be smart to add more, but nature probably beat us to it anyway