25 votes

Moss survives nine months outside the ISS

Posted by Aerrol
Tags: space stations, international space station, science, biology.astro, mosses, author.mike wall, source.space
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/we-were-genuinely-astonished-this-moss-survived-9-months-outside-the-international-space-station-and-could-still-grow-on-earth

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Title
'We were genuinely astonished': This moss survived 9 months outside the International Space Station and could still grow on Earth
Published
Nov 22 2025

1 comment

  1. Aerrol
    Link
    In this insane study, Japanese scientists pasted moss spores to the outside of the ISS for 9 months, went out and collected it, and managed to use those spores to propagate new moss at an...

    In this insane study, Japanese scientists pasted moss spores to the outside of the ISS for 9 months, went out and collected it, and managed to use those spores to propagate new moss at an incredible rate:

    More than 80% of the sporophytes were still alive, in fact, and 89% of those survivors were able to germinate back in the lab. Spaceflight caused a 20% reduction in chlorophyll a, the main pigment involved in photosynthesis, but the spores seemed to be healthy despite that drop, the team found.

    Of course, part of me can't help but wonder if we're just breeding some crazy irradiated super-moss but still really incredible to see. Makes the panspermia hypothesis for the origins of life on Earth a lot more plausible.

    9 votes