from Hacker News

A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

by venmul on 5/20/23, 5:19 AM with 62 comments

  • by denton-scratch on 5/20/23, 6:16 AM

    Article is a bit breathless.

    > and can be viewed using a microscope capable of 1000x magnification—a technology that has been available for hundreds of years.

    I don't think so; maybe 100 years. To achieve 1,000x magnification with an optical microscope, you need oil (or some other fluid with a refractive index similar to that of the lens) between the objective lens and the subject.

    I believe the maximum theoretical magnification you can achieve with an optical microscope is about 1,400x. The limit is imposed by the minimum wavelength of visible light.

  • by BiteCode_dev on 5/20/23, 7:14 AM

    The chances that none of the made-made objects that touched the moon carried a few tardigrades is very small anyway.

    The idea we can move so far away with such complicated processes without any contamination is just a dream, no matter the precautions we take. We can just limit it to the minimum, which is already quite amazing.

    So the israeli ones are just the one we know about.

  • by yyyk on 5/20/23, 7:16 AM

    This shows the difference between physics and drama. Physics tells us nothing much happened. Drama tells us they survived, they evolved, and are just waiting for their water-thirsty revenge...

  • by fsckboy on 5/20/23, 6:21 AM

    "tardigraves find a way."

    wikipedia:

    They have been found in diverse regions of Earth's biosphere – mountaintops, the deep sea, tropical rainforests, and the Antarctic. Tardigrades are among the most resilient animals known, with individual species able to survive extreme conditions – such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation – that would quickly kill most other known forms of life. Tardigrades have survived exposure to outer space.

  • by seraphsf on 5/20/23, 6:09 AM

  • by amichal on 5/20/23, 7:36 AM

    Someone did some research on if they could have survived... doesn't seem likely https://www.science.org/content/article/hardy-water-bears-su...

  • by paraiuspau on 5/20/23, 6:47 AM

    Possibility to evolve ability to utilise cosmic mycelial network for fast travel?

  • by cuSetanta on 5/20/23, 11:05 AM

    As someone who has worked onmultiple spacecraft, including a lunar lander, this is no surprise. Cleanrooms are great but ISO 8 (the most common cleanliness standard for spacecraft manufacture) isnt perfect.

    Missions to Mars and other planets have much much stricter cleanliness requirements, so much so that it becomes a real barrier to work and cost.

    I quite enjoy the idea that some of my DNA is now on the moon.

  • by api on 5/20/23, 11:13 AM

  • by ur-whale on 5/20/23, 6:08 AM

  • by justinclift on 5/20/23, 6:13 AM

    2019

  • by tempodox on 5/20/23, 6:52 AM

    (2019).

    I'd be interested to know whether that tardigrade image is actually a photo.

  • by 0xbadc0de5 on 5/20/23, 9:55 AM

    Don't worry, they'll be fine.

    ;)

  • by ElfinTrousers on 5/20/23, 12:29 PM

    I got a postcard from the tardigrades the other day. They're fine and they say hi.

  • by zabzonk on 5/20/23, 6:36 AM

    possibly a failed attempt to infiltrate the nazi moon-base?

  • by dfee on 5/20/23, 7:16 AM

    Aliens exist!

    Tardigrades, sure. But they're out there!

  • by kplex on 5/20/23, 7:20 AM

    Make My Day on Netflix now makes a lot more sense.

  • by airesearcher on 5/20/23, 12:21 PM

    It was said there was hummus on the Moon which may explain why Israel sent the tardigrades.

    In any case, the alleged tardigrades were actually in the “tun state” (dehydrated) and on a 1 cm square piece of tape that was embedded in epoxy resin. Therefore if they were not vaporized by the impact of the crash they would be preserved but unable to reanimate…

    This is why NATO has sent several secret resupply missions with solvent, tiny water bottles, and pita bread, in recent years. But so far all attempts to rehydrate the tardigrades have also crashed.

  • by electronicelyas on 5/20/23, 11:52 AM

    this will be an interesting case study of current theories of evolution in a couple thousand years