Credit & Copyright: Nicole Ottawa & Oliver Meckes / Eye of Science /
Science Source Images
Explanation:
Is this an alien?
Probably not, but of all the animals on Earth, the
tardigrade might be the best
candidate.
That's because
tardigrades
are known to be able to go for decades without food or water,
to survive temperatures from near
absolute zero
to well above the boiling point of water,
to survive pressures from near zero to well above that on
ocean floors,
and to survive direct exposure to dangerous
radiations.
The far-ranging survivability of these
extremophiles was
tested
in 2011 outside an orbiting space shuttle.
Tardigrades are so durable partly because they can repair their own
DNA
and reduce their body water content to a few percent.
Some of these miniature water-bears almost became
extraterrestrials recently when they were launched toward to the Martian moon
Phobos on board the Russian mission
Fobos-Grunt, but stayed terrestrial
when a rocket failed and the capsule remained in Earth orbit.
Tardigrades are more common than humans across most of the Earth.
Pictured above in a color-enhanced
electron micrograph, a millimeter-long tardigrade crawls on
moss.
Follow APOD on:
Facebook
(Daily)
(Sky)
(Spanish)
or Google Plus
(Daily)
(River)
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 |
Январь Февраль Март Апрель Май Июнь Июль Август Сентябрь Октябрь Ноябрь Декабрь |
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
|
Публикации с ключевыми словами:
life - жизнь во Вселенной
Публикации со словами: life - жизнь во Вселенной | |
См. также:
Все публикации на ту же тему >> | |
Мнения читателей [2]
