Tiny tardigrades crash-landed on the Moon and probably survived
Companies, agencies, institutions, etc
BBC News
the Arch Mission Foundation
Arch Libraries
the Arch Mission Foundation’s
the Ars Orbital Transmission
CNMN Collection
WIRED Media Group
Condé Nast
People
Jennifer Ouellette
Moon
Johann Goeze
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Taylor Swift
Nova Spivack
Ars Technica Addendum
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Israeli
German
Italian
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Antarctic
South Park
Earth
Nast
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Locations
Beresheet
Hollywood
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Beresheet lunar
Billion Year Archive
the Billion Year Archive
Summary
Tardigrades, more commonly known as "water bears," are microscopic creatures capable of surviving the harshest extreme conditions. Once revived, they go on with their lives, even capable of reproducing to replenish their numbers.The tardigrades aboard the SpaceIL Beresheet lunar lander were supplied by the Arch Mission Foundation, an organization dedicated to keeping backups of the flora and fauna of Earth by sending a "lunar library" into space, part of the group's ongoing Billion Year Archive initiative. Per Wired, “In the best-case scenario, Beresheet ejected the Arch Mission Foundation’s lunar library during impact, and it lies in one piece somewhere near the crash site.” Granted, it's a long shot that water would magically appear (perhaps from thawed water ice) on the Moon in sufficient quantities to rehydrate any surviving tardigrades and allow them to thrive.
As said here by Jennifer Ouellette