The Moon is airless, radiation-drenched and can swing from about minus 173 to plus 127 degrees Celsius, yet NASA-led modelling found that some common Earth fungi and bacteria—from human skin, soil and damp bathrooms—could survive dormant for weeks or even months in cold, shaded niches near the lunar poles.
The Moon appears to offer Earth’s microbes nowhere to hide. It has almost no atmosphere, no stable liquid water on its surface, and no protection from ultraviolet light or energetic radiation. NASA’s standard lunar figures put one surface in bright sunlight at about 127 degrees Celsius and another in darkness at about -173 degrees. Now, … Read more