DesertFox
09-18-2008, 08:43 PM
Tiny invertebrates called 'water bears' can survive in the vacuum of space, a European Space Agency experiment has shown. They are the first animals known to be able to survive the harsh combination of low pressure and intense radiation found in space.
Water bears, also known as tardigrades, are known for their virtual indestructibility on Earth. The creatures can survive intense pressures, huge doses of radiation, and years of being dried out.
To further test their hardiness, Ingemar Jönsson of Sweden's Kristianstad University and colleagues launched two species of dried-up tardigrades from Kazakhstan in September 2007 aboard ESA's FOTON-M3 mission, which carried a variety of experimental payloads.
After 10 days of exposure to space, the satellite returned to Earth. The tardigrades were retrieved and rehydrated to test how they reacted to the airless conditions in space, as well as ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and charged particles from space called cosmic rays. ...
http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn14690/dn14690-2_600.jpg
This here be a water bear. Its friends call it "Babalooie," but you can call it whatever you please. It won't answer anyway. If it looks like it's coated with tin foil, that because these little fellers harken from Algore's home world. In fact, there is a direct lineage from them to Al.
In one of the two species tested, 68% of specimens that were shielded from higher-energy radiation from the Sun were revived within 30 minutes of being rehydrated. Many of these tardigrades went on to lay eggs that successfully hatched.
But only a handful of animals survived full exposure to the Sun's UV light, which is more than 1000 times stronger in space than on the Earth's surface.
Before this experiment, only lichen and bacteria were known to be able to survive exposure to the combination of vacuum and space radiation.
More (http://space.newscientist.com/channel/space-tech/astrobiology/dn14690-water-bears-are-first-animal-to-survive-space-vacuum.html)
Water bears, also known as tardigrades, are known for their virtual indestructibility on Earth. The creatures can survive intense pressures, huge doses of radiation, and years of being dried out.
To further test their hardiness, Ingemar Jönsson of Sweden's Kristianstad University and colleagues launched two species of dried-up tardigrades from Kazakhstan in September 2007 aboard ESA's FOTON-M3 mission, which carried a variety of experimental payloads.
After 10 days of exposure to space, the satellite returned to Earth. The tardigrades were retrieved and rehydrated to test how they reacted to the airless conditions in space, as well as ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and charged particles from space called cosmic rays. ...
http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn14690/dn14690-2_600.jpg
This here be a water bear. Its friends call it "Babalooie," but you can call it whatever you please. It won't answer anyway. If it looks like it's coated with tin foil, that because these little fellers harken from Algore's home world. In fact, there is a direct lineage from them to Al.
In one of the two species tested, 68% of specimens that were shielded from higher-energy radiation from the Sun were revived within 30 minutes of being rehydrated. Many of these tardigrades went on to lay eggs that successfully hatched.
But only a handful of animals survived full exposure to the Sun's UV light, which is more than 1000 times stronger in space than on the Earth's surface.
Before this experiment, only lichen and bacteria were known to be able to survive exposure to the combination of vacuum and space radiation.
More (http://space.newscientist.com/channel/space-tech/astrobiology/dn14690-water-bears-are-first-animal-to-survive-space-vacuum.html)