Chang'e-4 scientist says they had to drop the idea because they could not provide the oxygen required to keep them alive.
"The weight of the Chang'e-4 probe demanded that the weight [of the experiment] can't exceed three kilograms ," he told the magazine."Even though it is very meaningful to choose tortoise, the oxygen inside the payload can only be used for about 20 days for turtles."
Xie said they have not ruled out sending animals on future Chang'e missions. They are hoping to send more biological payloads there in the future, and if they are given a larger payload allocations it may be possible to send animals in the future. Humans are currently the only living animal known to have visited the moon's surface. However, there may be thousands of tardigrades—microscopic, water-dwelling creatures known for their extreme survival capabilities—In August, it was announced that Israel's private lunar lander Beresheet, which crashed onto the lunar surface earlier in the year, had a box full of these creatures on board.
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