Where Did the Moon Come from and What Do We Do with It?

I am so lucky to have each one of you. You always challenge me with smart questions. The Q&A rubric is exactly what inspired me to write this text. The origin of the moon has occupied people’s minds for centuries. Since the moon tends to appear at night, it was often associated with darkness and madness. Ancient sailors were blown away by the connection between the moon, tides and the sun. They were convinced that there was some sort of codependency between them. Furthermore, the ancients noted that we only get to see one side of the moon. No matter how many times a person looks at the moon, it is always the same side (well, or the face).

The first puzzle was solved by Issac Newton. He calculated that tides are caused by the gravitational force of the moon and the sun, which impacts the world ocean. His theory also revealed that Earth manifests a tidal effect on the moon as well. Since the moon is made out of stone and does not have an ocean, it gets compressed by Earth, and this force contributes to the emergence of bulges.

Once, the moon even spun along the axis of Earth. However, as some time passed, the spinning weakened and got “locked”, and thus now we only see one side of the moon. This phenomenon is called the lock of the tides and occurs throughout the solar system, including the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Relying on Newton’s laws, you can define that the tidal forces compel the moon to spiral away from Earth. Its orbital radius increases by 1.6 inches per year. This minor alteration can be measured by aiming the laser beams at the moon. Astronauts left the mirrors on the moon to conduct an experiment — to calculate the time it takes for the beams to reach their target on Earth. The round trip is about two seconds, but this time constantly goes up. So, if the moon is spiraling away, consequently, if we return the record back, we can identify its former orbit.

A fairly quick calculation has shown that the moon separated from Earth billions of years ago. There is also modern evidence that 4.5 billion years ago, shortly before Earth was formed, there was a cosmic collision between the Earth and a certain asteroid. This asteroid was about the size of Mars. A computer simulation revealed the scale of this explosion. As a result, a huge chunk of Earth broke away and went into space. The collision of the asteroid was not a direct blow, but rather an oblique one, due to which the moon has iron but not the gravitational force, because it does not have an inner core in the form of a dissolved iron. The moon was not always round, but rather pear-shaped. Nonetheless, due to gravity and Earth, the moon got a full-fledged sphere shape.

When astronauts brought around 500 kilograms of stones from a historical trip to the moon, they provided evidence of collision between the gigantic asteroid and Earth. Astronomers declared that both the moon and Earth are made out of the same chemical elements, including silicon, air and iron. In comparison, the constituents of the asteroid are extremely different.

Nowadays, the idea of inhabiting different planets is not just Asimov’s fantasy anymore. As western scientists believe, this action is inevitable. To be more specific, we only have two options: either to die on Earth or continue civilization at different planets. Billions of dollars of Bezos, Branson, and Mask are invested into active exploration of the moon and Mars. Unfortunately, even once a very wealthy organization, NASA, could not take care of the costs by itself, and now the matter is in private hands. The scientists have already proved that it is possible to build something on the moon. The moon material can allow the establishment of the roads. Not just roads, but the high-speed ones! The mere question which has to be resolved is the lack of atmosphere. This requires a lot of funding. Scientists from Silicon Valley already have an idea where to get it. Believe it or not, they are going to utilize countless asteroids from space. Later on, the base on the moon would be built, and it would be self-sufficient. All that involves developing infrastructure: buildings, huge greenhouses for growing plants, chemical stations for the oxygen production, and big solar panels for collecting energy.

I understand that this all sounds like fiction and delirium, and most likely we would not live up until this moment. However, our grandchildren have a strong chance of acquiring a residence permit on the Moon.

© Masha Lopatova