A Giant Leap For Animal Kind

As we look to set up permanent bases on the Moon, Mars and beyond, we’ll need to bring other forms of life with us...but how will they cope with life in space?

- Chris Baraniuk

The thousands of space travellers were in suspended animation and nestled together on their ship, which was about to land on the Moon. But something was wrong. The ship’s computer initiated a series of commands that accidentally shut down its engines. As the craft careered towards the lunar surface, its passengers lay silent and still, oblivious. The impact was powerful. Dust scattered.

And yet, they may have survived. The creatures on board that doomed vehicle were tardigrades, also known as ‘water bears’ – micro-animals that can endure extreme temperatures, pressures, and even radiation, among other harsh conditions. If they did make it alive, they would have achieved something rather special. Hardly any animal species has ever made it so far from Earth.

The botched landing, which happened in 2019, was not necessarily catastrophic enough to destroy the tardigrades, according to the Arch Mission Foundation, the nonprofit that decided to send the tardigrades to space. The organization had attached the creatures to a stack of discs containing information about human civilization, which was aboard the lunar lander. But unless humans or perhaps robots can investigate the crash site, potentially many years from now, we won’t know for sure, says Doug Freeman, a spokesperson for the foundation. “It’s actually unlikely that the disc would have been destroyed,” he adds.