Talha Mumtaz's Key Ideas from The Book of the Moon
by Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Even before we ever thought about walking on the moon, we have been pondering the questions about how Moon came to be. There have been three theories suggested around the idea of how Moon was formed. Let’s look at each theory and also its implocations.

Some thought the moon was a passing asteroid that was captured by the Earth’s gravitational force. However, the only problem with this theory is that Moon is too large to be able to influenced by Earth’s gravitational force.

Some believed that not only Moon but Earth also was created as a result of accretion disc. A disc which comprised of gas, plasma, dust and particles. However, the theory was questioned due to the fact that in case of accretion disc, the core of both Moon and Earth should be the same which isn’t the case here.

The third theory suggests that Moon was created when a large piece of matter spun off the Earth’s fast-spinning orbit. However, if this was the case, the large piece of matter would have been spinning so fast it wouldn’t have been caught by the Earth’s gravitational pull.

When astronauts brought back pieces from the Moon, another theory was formed. It suggests that a planet collided with Earth at some point which caused a ring of molten rock from Earth and became the Moon.

You may already know that Moon is responsible for oceanic tides through its gravitational push & pull. The more significant part of it is that it may also have contributed in forming the conditions for RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) which along with DNA is responsible for life. The RNA formation may have been supported when the earth’s area was exposed to sun during low tide but fully covered during high tide. This process left chemicals that were concentrated and then churned thus forming RNA. The process was also replicated in labs successfully cresting RNA.

Space travel so far can be classified into three types,

1- Confrontation

2- Collaboration

3- Commercialisation

Confrontation is the era where nations were trying to reach the moon to show global dominance.

Collaboration is the era where space travel was achieved through international collaboration.

Commercialisation will be the future of space travel where space travel may be undertaken to find natural resources and space tourism.