"Imagine that you are moss. (Thank you for subscribing to Defector, moss!) You are one of the most ancient types of land plants-older than flowers, older than grass, older than trees, older even than ferns, which are the usual go-to for old plants. Being so old, you're relatively simple, as far as plants go. You don't have the standard vascular system for transporting fluid and nutrients internally. Your leaves are just one cell thick."
"In a study published this week in iScience, researchers sought to investigate just how hardy was Physcomitrium patens, a species known as spreading earthmoss. In a laboratory, they inflicted upon different parts of the plant a series of simulated space environments: vacuum, microgravity, ultra-high and ultra-low temperatures, bombardment by ultraviolet radiation. They found that sporophytes, the reproductive structures that produce spores, were the best at surviving the gantlet."
Spreading earthmoss (Physcomitrium patens) is an ancient, simple land plant with one-cell-thick leaves and no vascular system. The species thrives in extreme environments including mountains, deserts, city sidewalks, and Antarctic rocks. Laboratory tests exposed different plant parts to simulated space conditions—vacuum, microgravity, extreme temperatures, and ultraviolet radiation—and identified sporophytes as the most resilient. Sporophytes were sent aboard a Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station exposure facility for nine months and endured space radiation and cold. Most spores survived the real-space exposure and returned viable, demonstrating exceptional resilience of the moss reproductive structures.
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