Cited by 415Tardigrade Biology and EcologySpaceflight effects on biologySpace Science and Extraterrestrial Life

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Tardigrades survive exposure to space in low Earth orbit

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Jönsson, K. Ingemar, Rabbow, Elke, Schill, Ralph O., Harms-Ringdahl, Mats, Rettberg, Petra·2008·Current Biology

DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2008.06.048

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Horikawa, D. D., Sakashita, T., Katagiri, C., Watanabe, M., Kikawada, T., Nakahara, Y., Hamada, N., Wada, S., Funayama, T., Higashi, S., et al. (2006) · International Journal of Radiation Biology · doi:10.1080/09553000600972956 · Cited by 198

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May, 1964, Actions différentielles des rayons x et ultraviolets sur le tardigrade Macrobiotus areolatus, à ĺétat actif et desséché, Bull. Biol. France Belgique, 98, 349

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BackgroundMethodResultInfluential
Genomic Analyses of Cryptobiotic Tardigrades
Mali, B., Grohme, M. A., Wełnicz, W., Dandekar, T., Schnölzer, M., Reuter, D., Schill, R. O., & Frohme, M. (2008) · Wissenschaftliche Beiträge / Technische Hochschule Wildau · doi:10.15771/0949-8214_2008_1_5 · Cited by 2
Self-citation
Defining the viability of tardigrades with a molecular sensor related to death
Richaud, M., & Galas, S. (2018) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0206444 · Cited by 2
“For example, they can survive a 10 kJ/m(2) UV exposure [2], a ten-day space flight exposure to solar radiation at low earth orbit in the space vacuum [3], and an exposure of up to 7.”
Background
Lessons from the History of Life on Earth
Schulze‐Makuch, D., & Irwin, L. N. (2008) · Advances in astrobiology and biogeophysics · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-76817-3_4 · Cited by 2
Lessons from the History of Life on Earth
Schulze‐Makuch, D., & Irwin, L. N. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97658-7_4 · Cited by 2
What Are Extremophiles?
Mariscal, C., & Brunet, T. D. P. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190915650.003.0010 · Cited by 4
TARDIGRADES IN TEXAS: FIFTH GRADERS COLLABORATE TO ADD THREE NEW RECORDS TO THE STATE
Cotten, H., & Miller, W. R. (2022) · Texas Journal of Science · doi:10.32011/txjsci_74_1_article3 · Cited by 2
Extremophiles—Organisms that survive and thrive in extreme environmental conditions
Joseph, A. (2023) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-95717-5.00009-8 · Cited by 2
Nuclear energy and its ecological byproducts: Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima
Mousseau, T. A., & Møller, A. P. (2017) · ANU Press eBooks · doi:10.22459/lf.09.2017.09 · Cited by 2
“Previous studies of genetic variability within natural populations (for example, Mousseau and Roff 1987) suggest that genetic variation generally exists in most species for most characters, and laboratory studies have repeatedly demonstrated that some organisms can adapt to high radiation levels (for example, tardigra…”
Background
Morphological mechanism allowing a parasitic leech, Ozobranchus jantseanus (Rhynchobdellida: Ozobranchidae), to survive in ultra-low temperatures
Gu, S., Liu, J., Xiong, L., Dong, J., Sun, E., Hu, H., Yang, M., & Nie, L. (2021) · Biology Open · doi:10.1242/bio.058524 · Cited by 2
Jornada pela vida no cosmos
Costa, F. S. M. (2021) · Cadernos de Astronomia · doi:10.47456/cad.astro.v2n2.34052 · Cited by 3
Multiomics study of a heterotardigrade, Echinisicus testudo , suggests convergent evolution of anhydrobiosis-related proteins in TardigradaPreprint
Murai, Y., Yagi‐Utsumi, M., Fujiwara, M., Tomita, M., Kato, K., & Arakawa, K. (2020) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2020.10.27.358333 · Cited by 2
Correction: Observation of Live Ticks (Haemaphysalis flava) by Scanning Electron Microscopy under High Vacuum Pressure
Ishigaki, Y., Nakamura, Y., Oikawa, Y., Yano, Y., Kuwabata, S., Nakagawa, H., Tomosugi, N., & Takegami, T. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/annotation/c81bc3a4-63e1-44a6-bf1e-f923087bfa71 · Cited by 2
El desarrollo de la Astrobiología como ciencia
Valencia-Meza, A., & Ortiz-Alegria, A. (2022) · EPISTEMUS · doi:10.36790/epistemus.v16i33.214 · Cited by 1
Insights toward an ethical assessment of CubeSat technologies
Biasetti, P., & Grigoletto, S. (2023) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-824541-5.00014-5 · Cited by 1
Non-classical correlations between a quantum probe and complex quantum systems in presence of noise
Mathew, B. J., Srivastava, S., & Shaji, A. (2024) · Physics Letters A · doi:10.1016/j.physleta.2024.129713 · Cited by 1
Single-Animal, Single-Tube RNA Extraction for Comparison of Relative Transcript Levels via qRT-PCR in the Tardigrade Hypsibius exemplaris
Kirk, M. J., Xu, C., Paules, J., & Rothman, J. H. (2025) · Journal of Visualized Experiments · doi:10.3791/66935 · Cited by 1
Decoding tardigrade extreme stress tolerance
Møbjerg, N. (2025) · Science China Life Sciences · doi:10.1007/s11427-025-2895-8 · Cited by 1
“Notably, tardi-grades may endure not only desiccation, but also freezing at millikelvin temperatures, kilogray levels of ionizing radiation, and travel into the vacuum of space (Jönsson et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2022).”
Surviving deadly radiation: Lessons from tardigrades
Ghosh, S., Vishnu, D., Pillanjinayya, S., & Eswarappa, S. M. (2025) · Journal of Biosciences · doi:10.1007/s12038-025-00556-w · Cited by 1
“They can even survive space vacuum in low Earth orbits (Jonsson et al. 2008; Hengherr et al. 2009; Guidetti et al. 2012; Tsujimoto et al. 2016; Suma et al. 2020).”
Short-term survival of tardigrades ( Ramazzottius cf. varieornatus and Hypsibius exemplaris ) in martian regolith simulants (MGS-1 and OUCM-1)
Bakermans, C., Vecchi, M., & Pearce, G. (2025) · International Journal of Astrobiology · doi:10.1017/s1473550425100220 · Cited by 1
“…tardigrades can also survive many extreme conditions: high pressures (Jönsson and Bertolani, 2001; Seki and Toyoshima, 1998), the vacuum of space (Jönsson et al., 2008), desiccation (Boothby et al., 2017; We ł nicz et al., 2011), freezing (Nelson et al., 2018), temperature extremes and radiation…”
An orchestra of survival: Molecular mechanisms of radiation resistance across extremophiles
Liu, N., Cui, F., Jiao, Y., Zhou, K., & Jian, T. (2026) · Radiation Medicine and Protection · doi:10.1016/j.radmp.2026.01.001 · Cited by 1
Beyond Cryptobiosis: Biotechnological Frontiers of Tardigrades
Pandey, N., Sinha, A., Mandal, B., Chaturvedi, A., Mittal, G., Gupta, M., Aman, M., Chauhan, M., Karthik, S., Sharma, I., et al. (2026) · Industrial Biotechnology · doi:10.1177/15509087261417550 · Cited by 1
“42,43 However, UV radiation markedly reduced survival and egg production, though it did not affect egg hatchability or the fertility of subsequent generations.”
Expression of tardigrade extremotolerance-associated proteins improves recovery but not acute stress response of human microvascular endothelial cells
Darch, W., Soliman, J., Higgins, N. C., & Morgan, J. T. (2026) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-026-57258-y · Cited by 1
The meaning of ‘native’
Smejkal, G. B. (2013) · Expert Review of Proteomics · doi:10.1586/14789450.2013.837666 · Cited by 1
The ecology of tardigrades
Northcote-Smith, E. (2024) · PEARL (University of Plymouth) · doi:10.24382/a167-he81 · Cited by 1
Extremophile Organismen und Astrobiologie
Stolz, A. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-55595-8_9 · Cited by 2
Quantitative indexing and tardigrade analysis of exoplanets
Jagadeesh, M. K. (2018) · Expert Opinion on Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.18063/eoaa.v2i1.381 · Cited by 1
“Mathematically it can be denoted as: (6)”
Radioecology and Substance Interaction with Nature
Banerjee, A., Jhariya, M. K., Yadav, D. K., Raj, A., & Meena, R. S. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-13-6830-1_13 · Cited by 1
Structure of cytochrome b5 unique to tardigrades
Fukuda, Y., Kim, J., & Tsuyoshi Inoue, A. (2020) · Protein Science · doi:10.1002/pro.3896 · Cited by 1
“Moreover, anhydrobiotic tardigrades are known to survive even in space (low Earth orbit) for 10 days.(15) This extraordinary ability of tardigrades is so famous even in the public that tardigrades appeared in an American famous scifi television series Star Trek and a Japanese magical girl animation series Pretty Cure.”
Background
Physico-chemical boundaries of life
Stan‐Lotter, H. (2012) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-211-99691-1_1 · Cited by 1
Biological applications of the NanoSuit for electron imaging and X-microanalysis of insulating specimens
Kim, K. W. (2022) · Han-guk hyeonmigyeong hakoeji/Applied microscopy · doi:10.1186/s42649-022-00073-2 · Cited by 1

Authors: Jönsson, K. I., Rabbow, E., Schill, R. O., Harms-Ringdahl, M., & Rettberg, P.
Affiliations: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE)
University of Stuttgart (DE)
ORCID: Rabbow, Elke
Schill, Ralph O.
Rettberg, Petra
Venue: Current Biology
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Published: 2008-09
Volume: 18
Issue: 17
Pages: R729-R731
ISSN: 0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.06.048
OpenAlex: W2106102828
Cited by: 415
References: 19
Citations by year: 2026: 15 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 29
FWCI: 17.91
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: bronze
doi.org
Licence: www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (vor, 1811 d)
Locations: Current Biology (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
elib (German Aerospace Center) (submittedVersion)
Funders: European Space Agency
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Crafoordska Stiftelsen
Topics: Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Tardigrade Biology and Ecology
Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Spaceflight effects on biology
Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
Keywords: tardigrades, low Earth orbit, solar radiation, galactic cosmic rays, desiccation tolerance, anhydrobiosis, radioresistance (biology), space biology
MeSH terms: Animals, Cosmic Radiation, Extraterrestrial Environment, Invertebrates, Ovum, Space Flight, Survival, Ultraviolet Rays, Vacuum, Earth, Planet

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Tardigrades survive exposure to space in low Earth orbit

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