Yes! In 2007, European researchers shot a species of tardigrade into low-earth-orbit for 10-days where they were exposed to the vacuum of space, as well as solar/galactic cosmic radiation. Upon returning to Earth, a handful of the individuals exposed to all radiation survived and were able to produce viable offspring.
Humans, chimpanzees and dogs can live in a space environment for but a few minutes before the air in their lungs expands, gas bubbles out of their blood and the saliva in their mouths begin to boil. But more fundamental organisms such as bacteria and lichen can tolerate the absence of pressure and searing cold.
There is also some confusion between the tardigrade's sheer hardiness and its ability to live forever. In reality, tardigrades only have a lifespan of a few months – in the active state. This can (and is) interrupted by long periods where they are (to all intents and purposes) “dead.” But more on that later.
Tardigrades are nature's pioneers, colonizing new, potentially harsh environments, providing food for larger creatures that follow. Scientists say, for instance, that tardigrades may have been among the first animals to leave the ocean and settle on dry land. Tardigrades pose no threat to humans.
The earliest known true members of the group are known from Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago) amber, found in North America, but are essentially modern forms, and therefore likely have a significantly earlier origin, as they diverged from their closest relatives in the Cambrian, over 500 million years ago.
Although tardigrades can survive extreme conditions, they still have predators. Nematodes (a kind of worm), amoebas, and sometimes even other tardigrades all prey on tardigrades.
The moon might now be home to thousands of planet Earth's most indestructible animals. Tardigrades - often called water bears - are creatures under a millimetre long that can survive being heated to 150C and frozen to almost absolute zero.
Tardigrades are nearly translucent and they average about half a millimeter (500 micrometers) in length, about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. In the right light you can actually see them with the naked eye.
Because tardigrades are a bit like video game heroes – you can freeze them, boil them, crush them, starve them, and they just keep coming back to life. There's no way to kill them!
The microscopic water bears that can survive desiccation, extreme cold, and even trips to the Moon have a key weakness: heat. A recent study tested the survivability of a tardigrade species at elevated temperatures over an extended period.
The capsules were first ground tested in a cold vacuum chamber to insure the chambers would survive the cold and near vacuum of space without bursting. The high-altitude balloon experiment came off without a hitch--all the cockroaches survived.
Microbiologists have discovered extremophiles – microbes that can survive in extreme conditions – such as Deinococcus radiodurans, which can survive high levels of radiation, as well as a vacuum, a lack of water and cold. Microbes have been known to survive journeys into space.
They can survive temperatures close to absolute zero. They can withstand heat beyond the boiling point of water. They can shrug off the vacuum of space and doses of radiation that would be lethal to humans.
Although there is so far no evidence of life on Titan, its complex chemistry and unique environments are certain to make it a destination for continued exploration.
Before Earth and the Moon, there were proto-Earth and Theia (a roughly Mars-sized planet). The giant-impact model suggests that at some point in Earth's very early history, these two bodies collided.
To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ancient Noachian time period, the surface environment of Mars had liquid water and may have been habitable for microorganisms, but habitable conditions do not necessarily indicate life.
Tardigrades, the Toughest Creatures on Earth, Have an Achilles' Heel—Global Warming. Tardigrades are one of the toughest species on the planet. They can survive being boiled and frozen, and go a decade without water. They are also the only known creatures to have survived the vacuum of space.
On the other hand, if there isn't a male tardigrade to fertilize the eggs, they're simply reabsorbed into the female's body. Tardigrades are born based on amount of food. Before tardigrades give birth, the number of children they're going to have is based on the amount of food consumed by the mother.
Thomas Boothby, an assistant professor of molecular biology, and colleagues have shown that natural and engineered versions of tardigrade proteins can be used to stabilize an important pharmaceutical used to treat people with hemophilia and other conditions without the need for refrigeration -- even amid high ...
To date, there's only one species that has been called 'biologically immortal': the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii. These small, transparent animals hang out in oceans around the world and can turn back time by reverting to an earlier stage of their life cycle.
They cannot survive the trip through the human digestive tract since our stomach acid disintegrates the flesh of the tardigrade without much trouble, so eating one wouldn't do any harm.
There are more than 900 known tardigrade species, the largest being Echiniscoides sigismundi, a marine dweller from Eurasian waters that reaches 1.5 mm (0.05 in) as an adult.