4 ms·
This brings up an interesting question though. Could we create a minimially viable living environment for these extremophiles to survive on other planets? For
by joshdavham 2y ago
This brings up an interesting question though.
Could we create a minimially viable living environment for these extremophiles to survive on other planets? For humans, we'd need pretty incredible technology to sustain life on mars, but for tardigrades, they could probably survive with a lot less.
- kombookcha 2y agoThere's surviving, and there's thriving - tardigrades could probably hang out in a Mars crater for a long time, but what they'd need to sustainably live on an alien planet is something to eat during the periods where conditions are right for them to thaw out. If there's nothing for them to wake up to, they won't be making anymore tardigrades. Say, a very hardy algae that could make it in some suitable microbiome - like humid cracks in the rocks, or a fungus that could hang out in underground caverns shielded from UV radiation. If we are trying to seed a place with life where we can't reliably go ourselves, it seems important that the 'colony' should become self-sustaining immediately-ish. (Also I find the idea of launching swarms of micro-pods loaded up with hardy, tiny lifeforms endearing - like throwing seed bombs over a tall fence :) )
- pvaldes 2y agoAnd like that naive seed-bombs trend, they would do more harm that good.