Science
A Ball of Bacteria Survived for 3 Years … in Space! – WIRED
New research from the Japanese Tanpopo mission adds to scientists’ understanding of how living organisms can endure the hostile environment.
In 2018, a spacecraft departed the International Space Station carrying unusual cargo: Colonies of bacteria that had spent years hanging out in space. These intrepid microbes were the final samples to be returned to Earth as part of the Tanpopo mission, a Japanese astrobiology experiment studying the effects of the space environment on simple organisms. If the microbes survived long-term exposure to the vacuum, it would be a significant boost for a controversial theory known as panspermia, which…
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