[HN Gopher] Tardigrades spilled all over the Moon in 2020
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Tardigrades spilled all over the Moon in 2020
Author : wglb
Score : 14 points
Date : 2021-01-12 02:17 UTC (20 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.inverse.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.inverse.com)
| onecommentman wrote:
| It has been thought that we infested each planet on which we
| dropped a probe with tardigrades, especially the earlier
| missions. Inadvertently infecting the Solar System is one
| argument against space exploration...humans are just too dumb and
| clumsy at this point.
| hobby-coder-guy wrote:
| It has been thought? By who?
| aeternum wrote:
| Why is spreading life seen as a negative? There are still an
| unfathomable number of planets without life. Isn't spreading
| life a good thing?
| mlyle wrote:
| To the extent that we accidentally contaminate the moon --
| with life, radioactive material, etc -- we screw up some of
| our ability to study the origins of life, the solar system,
| etc. And we don't materially seed the universe with more life
| in the process.
|
| But then again, astronauts have been there, and the practices
| that were used were not (could not be) completely sterile.
| Still, this is probably a bit worse.
| JauntTrooper wrote:
| It would be poetic if tardigrades end up colonizing other
| worlds hundreds of years before we do.
| dyingkneepad wrote:
| The danger is if there is already some life that we're not
| aware of, then our tardrigades screw up their environment,
| eventually killing them. We don't want our tiny bacteria
| killing their tiny bacteria.
| temp0826 wrote:
| It is illogical to have such disregard for the prime
| directive.
| bpodgursky wrote:
| The Prime Directive prohibits contact with intelligent pre-
| warp civilizations.
|
| Starfleet colonized quite a few planets without existing
| intelligent life.
| BitwiseFool wrote:
| What would the tartigrades eat? Surely they would die off
| eventually due to a lack of an ecosystem - no matter how hardy
| they are.
| thesuitonym wrote:
| The counter argument is that if the life we inadvertently leave
| throughout the solar system thrives, that's an interesting
| result too. This only really becomes a problem if there was
| other life to begin with.
| tessierashpool wrote:
| it's not impossible, but this could be how Earth got
| tardigrades in the first place.
|
| (it's a stretch, of course.)
| mrlala wrote:
| One might say, if we are the only life to enjoy the solar
| system (in any reasonable proximity), then does it really
| matter?
| vector_spaces wrote:
| In case anyone was wondering, "Beresheet" means "In the
| beginning", as in "In the beginning God created the heavens and
| the Earth"
| aurizon wrote:
| The tardigrades have alrady eaten 25% of the far side of the moon
| - to avoid being seen...;)
| stolen_biscuit wrote:
| Fortunately per the article the tardigrades are sealed in epoxy
| and dehydrated, so any concerns about inadvertently disrupting
| some theoretical microbial ecosystem on the moon is probably not
| founded (not that I believe there is other life on the moon
| anyway)
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(page generated 2021-01-12 23:00 UTC)