Heat of the Moon: The Close Approach That Changed Everything

The world is going back to the Moon!
The new Moon Race has launched a new age of space exploration that will bring exciting new discoveries in the future. But as new missions take off and new research gets underway, what are the old questions still left unanswered since humans last set foot on the Moon?
Heat of the Moon: The Close Approach That Changed Everything reviews those questions as it traces the path of scientific discovery forward from the time of Apollo—including how science took a detour that threw research off track after the first lunar expeditions. It also explores how discoveries from Mars, the moons of Jupiter, and beyond have since led to great leaps forward in our understanding of how our solar system works. And, through the framework of Thomas J. Powell’s revolutionary Close Approach Lunar Model (CALM), it offers answers for the still unresolved Apollo questions.

The CALM inserts a new event into the history of the Earth and Moon that irrevocably changed them both and shaped the world we live in today. About 250 million years ago, the Moon’s orbit came dangerously close to Earth—with catastrophic consequences for all life on our planet. This close encounter rocked the Earth to its core, pulled on the continents and oceans, and sparked massive volcanic eruptions that changed the very atmosphere.

When the Moon retreated again, it left a ruined planet in its wake. But it also left something else: the beginning of a new era that would see the rise and fall of the mighty dinosaur and the revitalization of the plate tectonics system on Earth—and even a change in the face of the Moon.

The CALM brings a fresh understanding of the evolution of the Earth and Moon together as a system. It can help to resolve the questions still left from the time of Apollo, while offering a new lens through which to view the next discoveries that will emerge from the time of Artemis.