Earth's toughest creatures now be living on moon

Thousands of "indestructible" tardigrades now call the moon home after an Israeli spacecraft crashed there during a landing attempt in April 2019.

They were part of the Arch Mission Foundation's "lunar library" and the founder told Wired that they may have survived the crash.

Also known as water bears or moss piglets, tardigrades can live in water or on land, and are capable of surviving temperatures as high as 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit) and as low as minus 272 degrees Celsius (-458 Fahrenheit), albeit for a few minutes.

The grub-like, eight-legged animals can come back from being dried out to a lifeless husk for decades, and withstand near-zero pressure in outer space as well as the crushing depths of the Mariana Trench, as well radiation at levels a thousand times greater than lethal levels for humans.