‘Eight-Legged Water Bears' To Travel With Shubhanshu Shukla To ISS: What Are Tardigrades? Explained
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On the planet from before dinosaurs, tardigrades can survive extreme heat, cold and even mass extinctions. Advanced sunscreens, stronger space medicine to crops, they hold the key
During his two-week mission at the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will, among other things, study tardigrades – the eight-legged water bears or moss piglets.
What are these microscopic organisms? Why do scientists study them?
Discovered by German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, tardigrades, around 0.5 mm long when fully grown, have four pairs of legs, with four-six claws on each foot. They also have a specialised mouth which helps them suck nutrients from plant cells, algae, and other small invertebrates.
Tardigrades are robust aquatic animals that have been around for roughly 600 million years, 400 million years before dinosaurs walked the planet.
Tardigrades can be found in the highest mountains to the deepest oceans. Their most common habitat, however, is the thin film of water found on mosses and lichens, which gives them the name 'moss piglets'.
Tardigrades have survived all five major mass extinction events and scientists believe they could be around long after humanity has died out.
They can withstand temperatures as low as minus 272.95 degrees Celsius or as high as 150 degrees Celsius.
Stand ultraviolet radiation of space.
Pressures of 40,000 kilopascals (equivalent to what can be experienced at a depth of 4 km under the ocean's surface).
Live after being stored in a freezer for 30 years, according to a report by Front Line Genomics.
WHAT IS VOYAGER TARDIGRADES MISSION?
Scientists take tardigrades to the ISS, reviving them there and examine the effects of space radiation and microgravity on their biological processes and their DNA repair process. The key aim is to identify the genes that make them resilient, which could in turn help create ways to protect astronauts better during human space exploration missions.
Their study could help revolutionise:
In short, the study could help in creation of more resilient crops, advanced sunscreens, preserving human tissues and organs for transplantation.
THEY TRAVELLED TO SPACE, RETURNED & REPRODUCED
In 2007: 3,000 moss piglets travelled aboard the European Space Agency's Foton-M3 mission. They were carried in box opened in space, which was rehyrdrated on returning to Earth. The German and Swedish scientists undertaking the experiment found that not only did many water bears survive the harsh space environment, some were also able to reproduce successfully.
They became the first animal to survive exposure to space. Before water bears, animals had only survived space in the safety of a spaceship or space suit.
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Manjiri Joshi
At the news desk for 17 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing special copies ...Read More
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