Question 11/03

IMMORTAL BACTERIA

Bacteria are almost immortal. (Apollo 12 crew recovered bacteria that were accidentally brought to the Moon 3 years earlier by Surveyor probe, and those bacteria were revived. There are claims of revival of 30 million year-old bacteria.) How long will it take for the cosmic radiation to destroy the DNA of a bacterium.

This question was inspired by "Fermi question" site that can be found here.

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