Joel Kontinen
A
pair of researchers at the University of Kent has found that tardigrades are
able to survive impacts at speeds of up to 825 meters per second. In their paper
published in the journal Astrobiology, Alejandra Traspas and Mark
Burchell describe experiments they conducted that involved firing canisters
containing tardigrades at high speeds at sand targets.
Tardigrads are small animals that they are living fossils that appeared in the Cambrian strata “530 million years” ago, which means that evolutionists see them as one of the oldest kinds of living fossils.
The researchers obtained 20 tardigrade specimens
and put them in a deep freeze to induce their sleep-like state. They then
placed them in groups of two or three into thin cylinders filled with water.
The cylinders were then placed inside of a larger cylinder that served as an
ammunition shell for a two-stage light gas gun. The gun was placed inside of
a vacuum chamber where its shell was fired at a target made of sand. Shots were fired
from the gun at different speeds to see what impact each would have on the
passenger tardigrades.
The researchers found out that tardigrades who got less
than 625 meters per second could survive
an impact
Some evolutionary researchers have speculated that tardigrades
could survive in space, if their speed was less than 825 meters
per second.
Source:
Yirka, Bob. 2021. Tardigrades survive impacts of up to 825 meters per second Phys.org 21 May.
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