What are tardigrades?
Tardigrade or “water bears” are microscopic aquatic animals that get their name because under a microscope they resemble bears. The full length of their body is generally no more than .5mm and consists of 5 body segments, a head and 4 pairs of legs each containing claws. These creatures do not have a circulatory or respiratory system, instead they absorb oxygen though their body. The environmental extremes that these critters can survive is amazing, ranging from the -273c to 151c.
The experiment
The experiment was chosen to test the survival of rates of tardigrades, when they are in a desiccated or anhydrobiotic state, when exposed to the extremes of earth’s orbit. Knowing how large of a temp. range they can stand, the goal was to test the effects of microgravity and radiation. Experiment F1 contained tardigrades that were naturally desiccated and experiment F2 they were desiccated under controlled conditions in the lab. Some of each experiment (F1 and F2) some were sent to orbit and the rest stayed in the lab and exposed to the same temp profile of the space ship. Once the 12 day experiment was over all the samples were brought back to the lab for evaluation.
The results…show more content… The survival rates for experiment F1 were approx. 85% in the control group and the control group. The survival rates for experiment F2 were 70% to 75% for the control group and the experimental group respectively. The next part of the experiment compared the genomic DNA quality of each of the groups, finding no difference between groups. Due to these findings it can be concluded that nether the microgravity nor the levels or radiation in earth’s orbit have any real effect on these