Moss has been shown to survive one of the harshest environments imaginable: the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS).
Researchers sent three different types of moss structures to the orbital outpost: protonemata, or juvenile moss; brood cells; and sporophytes, or encapsulated spores. The juvenile moss didn’t survive the experience. Some of the brood cells made it, but 80 percent of the spores were still capable of reproducing after a nine-month stint outside the outpost.
