Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 69 posts

Re: A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

#31

Post by Zigurd »

bloak wrote: post #12
denton-scratch wrote: post #5

Article is a bit breathless. > and can be viewed using a microscope capable of 1000x magnification—a technology that has been available for hundreds of years. I don't think so; maybe 100 years. To achieve 1,000x magnification with an optical microscope, you need oil (or some other fluid with a refractive index similar to that of the lens) between the objective lens and the subject. I believe the maximum theoretical m…

Interesting. Modern optical microscopes, even cheap ones, do 1000x, though I seem to remember, from playing with a cheapish one, that it was very hard to get a worthwhile image at 1000x. Amazon.co.uk has a microscope for £54.59 that does "1600X" ... "for Kids"! The one I played with wasn't that cheap! According to random online articles, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) achieved 275x and a few of his instruments h…

1600X seems like the lumens rating of Chinese bike lights on Amazon.

Re: A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

#32

Post by benj111 »

dfee wrote: post #23
benj111 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tardigrades aren't aliens, they're emigrants. Of course from the moon people's pov, they are aliens.

Does the term apply like that? At what point would they become alien - small or significant evolution? Is there a right answer?

google gives the definition "supposedly from another world".

tardigrades are from this world. i wouldnt define a mars born human as alien, so i wouldnt say its based on where that generation was born either.

evolutionarily, i suppose for me the dividing line is when the creature has evolved to the point where its more at home in its new habitat than its old. i dont think youre ever going to get a bullet proof, exceptionless definition though.

Re: A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

#34

Post by benj111 »

Ygg2 wrote: post #28
benj111 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So on some future space mining trip to the moon, these will some how get picked up, then after their long sleep, and some mutations from cosmic rays, will start taking out the crew one by one?

No. Mutation doesn't imply it just morphed for dramatic purposes.

What if it got radioactive and then bit one of the crew who took on tardigrade qualities, and started taking out the crew? Or maybe a transporter incident where the tardigrades DNA merged with a humans, and it started taking out the crew? Or 25th century Meta started secret experiments on Luna tardigrades and decided they wanted to test their new weapon on the unsuspecting crew of some old transport ship?

Re: A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

#35

Post by cuSetanta »

As someone who has worked onmultiple spacecraft, including a lunar lander, this is no surprise. Cleanrooms are great but ISO 8 (the most common cleanliness standard for spacecraft manufacture) isnt perfect.

Missions to Mars and other planets have much much stricter cleanliness requirements, so much so that it becomes a real barrier to work and cost.

I quite enjoy the idea that some of my DNA is now on the moon.

Re: A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

#37

Post by ionwake »

benj111 wrote: post #34
Ygg2 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Mutation doesn't imply it just morphed for dramatic purposes.

What if it got radioactive and then bit one of the crew who took on tardigrade qualities, and started taking out the crew? Or maybe a transporter incident where the tardigrades DNA merged with a humans, and it started taking out the crew? Or 25th century Meta started secret experiments on Luna tardigrades and decided they wanted to test their new weapon on the unsuspecting crew of some old transport ship?

I too am waiting for ygg2s’ answers as he seems knowledgable on the subject

Re: A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

#38

Post by seabass-labrax »

dotancohen wrote: post #27
tempodox wrote: post #10

(2019). I'd be interested to know whether that tardigrade image is actually a photo.

> (2019) Interesting why this comes up now, then. > I'd be interested to know whether that tardigrade image is actually a photo. I'd imagine so. This is exactly what they do look like. Though this is the most detailed image I think that I've ever seen, it is not far beyond other images that I know for certain are not renders.

It doesn't appear to be standing on anything though - could it have been suspended in a liquid of the same density as itself? Despite the image being credited to Getty Images, I couldn't find it in their catalogue.

Re: A Crashed Israeli Lunar Lander Spilled Tardigrades on the Moon (2019)

#40

Post by dingaling »

benj111 wrote: post #32
dfee wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the term apply like that? At what point would they become alien - small or significant evolution? Is there a right answer?

google gives the definition "supposedly from another world". tardigrades are from this world. i wouldnt define a mars born human as alien, so i wouldnt say its based on where that generation was born either. evolutionarily, i suppose for me the dividing line is when the creature has evolved to the point where its more at home in its new habitat than its old. i dont think youre ever going to get a bullet proof, except…

> tardigrades are from this world.

There are plenty of them here, but did they evolve on Earth or arrive from elsewhere...?

Post reply on HN