The Earth–Moon system as a research area encompasses the coupled dynamical, geophysical, geochemical, and space-environment interactions between Earth and its natural satellite, studied using observational, theoretical, and numerical methods. It includes investigations of orbital and rotational dynamics, tidal dissipation, angular momentum exchange, and long-term evolution of the Earth–Moon distance and obliquity. Research targets internal structure and thermal histories inferred from gravity, seismology, and magnetic data; surface and exospheric processes; impact cratering; and volatile and isotopic compositions. The field also examines Earth–Moon space weather, plasma and magnetospheric interactions, and implications for planetary system formation, comparative planetology, and future exploration architectures.
Even most rocket scientists would rather avoid hard math when they don't have to do it. So when it comes to figuring out orbits in complex three-body systems, like those in cis-lunar space, which is between Earth and the ...
Space Exploration
Dec 29, 2025
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One of the oldest unsolved riddles in planetary science concerns the origin of the moon. Over a century ago, George Darwin proposed that tidal and centrifugal forces on a rapidly rotating proto-Earth caused the moon to be ...
The moon's surface may be more than just a dusty, barren landscape. Over billions of years, tiny particles from Earth's atmosphere have landed in the lunar soil, creating a possible source of life-sustaining substances for ...
Space Exploration
Dec 11, 2025
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422
About 4.5 billion years ago, the most momentous event in the history of Earth occurred: a huge celestial body called Theia collided with the young Earth. How the collision unfolded and what exactly happened afterward has ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 20, 2025
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Tracking time is one of those things that seems easy, until you really start to get into the details of what time actually is. We define a second as 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a cesium atom. However, according to Einstein's ...
Space Exploration
Nov 13, 2025
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When astronauts land near the moon's south pole as part of NASA's Artemis program in a few years, they likely will find themselves in an unexpected treasure trove of clues that could help scientists better understand how ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 8, 2025
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84
Earth is so far the only known planet on which life exists—with liquid water and a stable atmosphere. However, the conditions were not conducive to life when it formed. The gas-dust cloud from which all the planets in the ...
Astrobiology
Aug 28, 2025
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NASA's Artemis II mission, set to send four astronauts on a nearly 10-day mission around the moon and back, will advance the agency's goal to land astronauts at the moon's south polar region and will help set the stage for ...
Space Exploration
Aug 21, 2025
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56
Exoplanet habitability depends on a whole host of factors, with liquid water at the top of the list. It also requires a stable atmosphere, the right chemistry, and possibly even things like plate tectonics or other geological ...
Planetary Sciences
Aug 19, 2025
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40
The Three-Body Problem isn't just the name of a viral Netflix series or a Hugo Award-winning sci-fi book. It also represents a real problem in astrodynamics—and one that can cause headaches for mission planners in terms of ...
Space Exploration
Aug 19, 2025
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