Is there life on the moon? There may be now, thanks to the Israelis

AN ISRAELI lunar lander which crashed on the moon a few months ago may have seeded the surface with thousands of microscopic creatures.

Beresheet, the lunar probe co-developed by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, failed in its attempt at a soft landing on the moon in April, instead hitting its surface at high speed.

Among the craft’s payload was a “lunar library”, a “back-up” of planet Earth, including a 30 million-page archive of human history, human DNA — and thousands of tiny tardigrades, which researchers were hoping to use to prove that the moon can sustain some form of basic life. It is thought the creatures may have survived the crash.

Also known as water bears, tardigrades can grow to up to 1.5mm in size. They are among the most resilient creatures ever discovered, able to survive extreme heat, acute lack of water, radiation and dehydration. A decade ago, it was also shown that they could survive exposure to outer space. The tardigrade’s survival technique involves shrinking down into a pod-like state, effectively going into hibernation.

While any tardigrades which might have been deposited would remain in

an inactive state due to lack of atmosphere or water, it is possible that if any of them were subsequently brought back to Earth, they could be revived.

Nova Spivak, founder of the Arch Mission Foundation (AMF) which created the lunar library said the tardigrades “are sealed in epoxy with 100 million human, plant and microorganism cells.

“Some are encapsulated onto the sticky side of a 1cm square piece of Kapton tape that is sealed inside the disc stack.”

He stressed that the creatures “cannot reproduce on the moon”.

The AMF also said that they plan to send another lunar archive to the moon in 2021, offering people the opportunity to pay to have their own memories and DNA included.

However, the organisation will not be using an Israeli lander.

In June, SpaceIL revealed that they had decided not to reattempt the mission, stating that a moon landing was “not a sufficiently great challenge.”