A billion-year partnership, a frivolous assumption, and what humans risk losing in the new space race.
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According to empirical evidence, somewhere between 4.537.000.000 and 4.510.000.000 years ago, as a consequence of the Solar System’s formation, Earth could barely hold itself together; its shape was an ellipsoid, and it no longer had a surface, just a layer of rock gas that gets denser with depth.
An impact with another astronomical body occurs that makes Earth spin even faster, making it hotter until its equator can no longer remain coupled. Parts of the equator break off, vaporize, and settle into an orbit, forming a disk. The disk rapidly flares into a giant donut-shaped structure whose surroundings settle into the “lunar seed”, growing the Moon with no volatiles.
After just a few years, the donut-shaped structure shrank to inside the Moon’s orbit, and a newly formed large Moon emerged (the biggest Moon of the solar system, 1% of Earth’s mass), with Earth and Moon sharing the same isotopic profile (same number of neutrons in the atoms of their elements).
Tidal interactions between the Earth and the Moon act as a gravitational arm against Earth, affecting the orbital inclination and tilt of both (Earth and Moon). It gradually pulls the Earth’s axis tilt to 23.5 degrees while bringing the Moon’s orbit inclination to 5 degrees relative to the ecliptic (Earth plane orbit relative to the Sun) that we can observe today. According to the rock record, this process ended 4.510.000.000 years ago, the last time Earth’s global silicate system had been mixed. Lunar samples also state the same.
Over the years, the Earth and Moon relationship has become more entangled, intertwined, and sophisticated. As for today, just one little aspect of it, the Moon’s gravitational pull, creates the ocean tides that in turn drive ocean currents and influence climate patterns across the Earth’s surface.
A 2018 study elegantly established the statistical correlation between El Niño and the Moon’s 18.6-year tidal cycle. El Niño events tend to occur in specific years relative to the lunar nodal cycle—specifically the 1st, 10th, and 13th years after the peak of the cycle. La Niña events, in contrast, tend to occur in the 3rd, 12th, and 16th years. Despite the resistance to such (lunatic) claims, and much criticism of this study (including a 2025 one), the statistical correlation itself has not been disproven.
In June 2026, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed the existence of an enormous cavern beneath the Moon’s surface—about 50 kilometers long and 100 meters wide. The cavern could serve as a natural shelter for future astronauts, protecting them from solar radiation and extreme temperatures. Contrary to the study that connects the Moon cycle and climate patterns, the discovery was received with great enthusiasm by the scientific community.
The enthusiasm is understandable—a natural lunar shelter is a remarkable finding. But it also reveals a pattern: the space race celebrates what can be used, while neglecting what is there and is not yet understood.
The 24-hour rotation, gravity, tides, climate stability, and biological rhythms are all byproducts of the Earth and Moon relationship that has been going on for billions of years and that are still poorly understood.
And yet, curiously, the space race operates as if the Moon is merely a stepping stone. Plans for lunar bases and mining operations proceed as if the Moon is a resource to be extracted – rather than a partner to be understood.
Perhaps there is a lesson here from colonization – The assumption that humans can arrive, take what they need, and move on has a poor track record. A more effective approach might be to start by understanding interactions.
There is no evidence that humans could reproduce or survive on a planet without a Moon like Earth’s Moon. The Moon is as crucial to human existence as Earth itself. That is why knowing about its origins — and its ongoing influence — matters so much.
Learn first, before destroying. Recognize before the deadline what we actually depend on. Perhaps this time around, we might be able to make what is important not available for exploitation.
If you enjoy science writing, you can check my publication, Beliefs of a Female Architect. It unfolds what happened from the Big Bang to today’s world, completely grounded in empirical evidence. I’d be delighted to see you there.