Fact

Tardigrades survived direct exposure to open space

Vacuum, radiation, no water. Some of them then laid viable eggs.

1 min read

In a 2007 experiment, dehydrated tardigrades were exposed to the vacuum and radiation of low Earth orbit for ten days. A proportion survived and reproduced afterwards. They achieve this by entering a desiccated tun state, replacing water with protective sugars and disordered proteins.

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