One organism in particular has shocked us with its survivability. None other than the Tardigrade a.K.a the water bears. These peculiar little creatures are able to survive extreme temperatures, extreme pressures, air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation. They are even capable of surviving in the vacuum of space! They are our best answer to our problem with space travel: that we cannot survive long-term space travel. This is why we use space probes and rovers to investigate the outerspace. The question then becomes, what does an organism need to not only survive space, but even thrives in it? Is it even in the realm of possibility?

 

To answer that question, let us take a closer look at the tardigrades. They are able to effectively stop their metabolism by by curling up into a little ball called a tun. This method of slowing down metabolism is not unique to tardigrades. In fact, it is so common that we gave it a name, Torpor. Birds and mammals have been well-documented to undergo torpor or hibernation in order to survive changes in the environment such as winter season. It is found that virtually all mammals are capable of this ability. Thus, maybe with a little bit of genetic modifications, humans can tap into this ability.

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Certain variants of bacterias on the other hand will enter a state called endospore when in a barren area with low nutrition, improper climates and so on. The bacteria will form a spore within itself which contains a specialized coat that can resist heat, radiation and other harsh conditions. The end product is essentially a highly resistant cell that can preserve its genetic materials from critical conditions.

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Camels may not be your first choice concerning Super Organisms, however, their ability to survive the harsh desert should not be discounted. Camels distinctive humps which allows them to store up to 36 kilograms of fat. These fat can then be converted into water and energy, allowing to go up to 15 days without water.

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Another huge problem organisms may encounter in space is the ionising radiation from the Sun. Without earth's atmosphere, nothing is protecting us from the damages caused by those radiations. Luckily, World's Most Radiation-Resistant Lifeform according to the Guinness World Records, the Deinococcus radiodurans has an answer for us. This superbug can survive up to 1.5 million rads of gamma radiation, 1000 times that a human can. D. radiodurans has the ability to repair DNA damage by having 8 to 10 copies of its genome to recreate destroyed DNA sequences. It can rapidly repair DNA by stitching them together using a special protein called RecA. It produces high levels of protective antioxidants, allowing them to stabilize free radicals produced by radiation.