The Greater Earth System

 Arthur Woods (*)

“If God wanted man to become a spacefaring species, he would have given man a Moon.”
Krafft A. Ehricke, 1984 [1]

This article introduces the concept that Greater Earth is not only a region defined by celestial mechanics and the laws of physics but is also an interdependent dynamic system that contributed to the emergence and evolution of life on Earth. The region outside Earth’s atmosphere and extending out to just beyond the Moon’s orbit, including the Earth-Moon Lagrangian points, is referred to as cislunar space. This region contains approximately 95% of all of humanity’s space assets. Geolunar space is the region from the Moon to the Earth-Sun Lagrangian points located 1.5 million km outwards where the Earth’s gravitational influence is counter balanced by that of the Sun. [2] As all celestial bodies of significant concentrated mass exert a field of gravitational attraction around their cores which extends to the point of tangential intersection with other celestial bodies, this marks the true cosmic boundary of our planet resulting in a sphere with a diameter of 3 million km which is a region we call Greater Earth [3].  Understanding the dynamic nature of this extended region of Earth and how it has functioned in a unique and incredible manner, adds insight on the future role of the human species in the evolution of life on Earth and in its relation to the Cosmos.

The Formation of Earth and the Moon

Based on the standard model of cosmology, the Solar System was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar cloud of molecules consisting mostly of hydrogen with some helium, and small amounts of heavier elements fused by previous generations of stars. As this region collapsed it began to rotate faster and then flatten into a protoplanetary disc approximately 20 AU in diameter (1 AU = 150 million km) with our Sun – a dense protostar – at its center which became increasingly hotter. The Earth was formed approximately 4.54 billion years ago by accretion over a period of 10-20 million years as part of the circumstellar disk that grew out from the Sun.  At the time of the formation of the Solar System most of the material in the inner Solar System was composed of dry non-carbonaceous matter resulting in the rock and metal compositions of the inner planets and asteroids, whereas most of the water rich carbonaceous objects were in the outer reaches. Observations have shown that these carbonaceous objects which are very black in color and, from the outer asteroid belt outwards to the Kuiper belt, all of the interplanetary asteroids are also black. Most researchers believe Earth’s primordial water came from these carbonaceous meteorites and asteroids impacting Earth over time yet others believe the inner asteroids may have not been so dry in the early formation period.  Earth orbits around the Sun in 365.26 days, a period known as an Earth year. During this time, Earth rotates about its axis about 366.26 times and as this axis is tilted with respect to its orbital plane, this results in producing the seasons.

The Earth’s moon, which has the Latin name Luna, is thought to have formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago, not long after the formation of the Earth. There are several hypotheses for its origin but the most widely accepted explanation, one first put forward by the planetary scientists William K. Hartmann and Donald R. Davis in 1975, [4] [5] is that the Moon was formed from the debris left over after a giant impact between proto-Earth and a Mars-sized body called Theia. In Greek mythology Theia is a Titan goddess and mother of Selene, the goddess of the Moon [6].  The impact blasted material into Earth’s orbit and this material then accreted into a more spherical body under the influence of its own gravity thus forming the Moon. One problem with this theory is that such an impact would have invariably sped up the rotation of the Earth far beyond what we observe today. To offset this anomaly, some scientists including Dr. Robin Canup at the San Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute who has written a book titled “Origin of the Earth and Moon” have suggested that a second collision “Big Whack II” coming from another direction would have been necessary. [7] Considering the stabilizing influence the Moon has had on Earth’s rotation, this second impact would have been an incredible coincidence. In addition, biochemical analysis of lunar materials carried out by Ruzicka, Synder and Taylor provide no evidence that the Moon was derived from the Earth, and suggests that some objects with lunar-like compositions were produced without involvement of the Earth. This has added additional uncertainty to the big impact and dual impacts theories [8].

In any case, Earth’s initial rotation was a vestige of the original angular momentum of the cloud of dust, rocks, and gas that coalesced to form the Solar System. This primordial cloud was composed of hydrogen and helium produced in the Big Bang, as well as heavier elements ejected by supernovas. As this interstellar dust is heterogeneous, any asymmetry during gravitational accretion resulted in the angular momentum of the eventual planet. As mentioned above, this primordial rotation rate would have been reset by the impact of the  Theia object 4.5 billion years ago. Regardless of the speed and tilt of Earth’s rotation before the impact, it would have experienced a day some five hours long after the impact resulting in very high winds on the surface. Tidal effects have then slowed Earth’s rotational period rate to its current 24 hours [9].

The Moon is Earth’s only permanent natural satellite and is the only celestial body to have been visited by humans. It is the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System, and the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits. After Jupiter’s satellite Io, it is the second-densest satellite among the moons in the Solar System whose densities are known. It is a third larger than the dwarf planet Pluto that has a diameter of 2,370 km [10].

The Moon’s diameter is 3,476 km compared to 12,742 km of the Earth’s. The surface area of the Moon is about 38 million square km which can is comparable to the continent of Asia which has a surface area of 44 million square km. The Moon’s gravitational force is about 16.6 percent or one-sixth that of the Earth’s gravity[11]. The Moon is slightly larger than one-fourth or more precisely 27.322 percent the size of the Earth which is approximately 366% larger than the Moon. An interesting coincidence, the Moon orbits our planet at a rate of once every 27.322 Earth days and it makes 366 orbits of Earth every 10,000 Earth days. These and other coincidental statistics are found in the book: “Who built the Moon?” by Alan Butler and Christopher Knight [12].

The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth always showing the same face and, because its orbit is not circular, it is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times. Its near side is marked by smooth dark volcanic maria (Latin for “seas”) that fill the spaces between the bright, rougher ancient crustal terrae (“lands”)  highlands and the prominent impact craters. Its surface is actually dark although it can appear very bright white with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt [13]. After the Sun, the Moon is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earth’s sky, as measured by illuminance on Earth’s surface.

The Moon’s current orbital distance from the Earth at an average distance of 384,403 km which is approximately thirty times the diameter of the Earth with its apparent size in the sky almost the same as that of the Sun, resulting in the Moon covering the Sun nearly precisely in total solar eclipse. This is due to the fact that the Moon is 400 times smaller and 400 times closer to the Earth than the Sun which is another unusual astronomical coincidence. However, this matching of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future. The Moon’s linear distance from Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.82 ± 0.07 cm per year, but this rate is not constant. A new study published in 2019, shows that the Moon is actually shrinking, getting thinner by almost 50 m over the past several hundred millions years, and this is causing wrinkles on its surface as well as moonquakes. [14]

Some researchers believe that the elements of water, particularly hydrogen may have been an ingredient in Earth’s formation accreting from the solar nebula [15]. As large deposits of water have been recently detected on the Moon which was once thought to be dry, additional research will be needed, not only about how the Moon was formed but also about its relevance to the creation of water on Earth. Research published in 2019 suggests that, with regards to the big impact theory, Theia possibly originated in the outer Solar System and may have delivered large quantities of water to Earth. According to these scientists, the collision could have provided sufficient carbonaceous material to account for the entire amount of water on Earth which later enabled life to appear[16] [17].

The Moon and the Earth can be viewed as an interdependent system in which the Earth’s gravity keeps the Moon in orbit. The Moon’s gravitational influence on the Earth produces the ocean tides, earth or body tides, the slight lengthening of the day and influences its rotation period. This influence also accounts for the bulge around Earth’s equator and, likewise, the Earth’s gravitational influence causes a similar bulge to the Moon’s equator.  Because the force of gravity is stronger for the water on the side closest to the Moon, water falls faster towards the Moon and rises up the near-side tidal bulge. And because the gravitational attraction is weaker on the far-side, the water falls more slowly towards the Moon than the rest of the Earth. Approximately twice a month when the Sun, Moon and Earth form a line called a syzygy (an alignment of three or more celestial objects in a gravitational system); the tidal force due to the Sun reinforces that due to the Moon. The Sun causes a second set of tidal bulges that point in the direction of the Sun, but the strength of those tides is less than half of those due to the Moon [18]. The Moon’s 28 day orbit acts as a stabilizing influence on the obliquity of Earth’s spin axis causing it to be stable for extended geological periods and preventing climatic extremes.

In earlier times, the Moon was much closer to the Earth and its gravitational influence was much stronger, leading some scientists to believe the Moon played a significant role in the early evolution of life as the enormous tidal forces may have catalyzed reactions within the organic soup of early Earth. Over millions of years, Earth’s rotation slowed significantly by tidal acceleration through gravitational interactions with the Moon and the Sun. The gravitational influence of the Moon may have played a significant role in the Earth specific phenomena of plate tectonics and continental drift, forces that may also have been important to the evolution of life on Earth. Plate tectonics does not occur on Venus which has no moon, nor on Mars which moons are too small to have significant tidal effects on the surface [19].

The Origin of Life on Earth

Besides various religious explanations for the origin of life on Earth there are two prevailing scientific theories. The most widely accepted theory is that of Neo-Darwinism which incorporates the genetic work of Gregor Mendel into the seminal concepts of Charles Darwin. Neo-Darwinists assume that, under favorable conditions, life appeared from non-living material such as organic compounds via a process called abiogenesis [20].  Evolution is driven by chance, and chance mutations slightly affect the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). Bigger changes are the result of recombination, a genetic process in which DNA strands are swapped, transferred, or doubled. The mechanisms behind evolution are mutation and recombination, which create new meaning in DNA through adaptation and the process of natural selection. The immense tidal forces mentioned above may have been favorable to the multiplication and recombination of DNA in the organic soup. However, DNA is such a complex molecule it is difficult to imagine it occurred by a purely random process. Indeed, DNA cannot exist without life, and life cannot exist without DNA as the two are totally interdependent. Therefore, where did the original DNA come from?

An answer to this question is possibly found in a competing theory of evolution called panspermia  [21] [22]. The Greek philosopher Anaxagoras (500BC – 428 BC) who is believed to have been the teacher of Socrates first scientifically articulated this theoretical concept. It assumes that life is distributed throughout the universe in the form of germs or spores and that the arrival of such microbes contributed to the origin of life on Earth. These microbiotic elements arrived either via impacting comets and meteors or, in the case of directed panspermia, were intentionally sent into the Cosmos by advanced extraterrestrial alien civilizations.

A more recent version of the directed panspermia theory is called “Cosmic Ancestry” which holds that life on Earth was seeded by bacterial microbes from space that contained the genetic programs necessary for the evolution of life. In this scenario, evolution is pre-programmed into these genes in order to lead to ever-higher organisms. British astronomers Frank Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe announced in the 1970’s that interstellar space contains “organic compounds” and that comets could transport such compounds over the large distances of the universe and even protect them from the hazards of UV radiation. Recent scientific discoveries of ancient bacteria having survived hostile environments both here on Earth and in space lend credence to the panspermia theoretical speculations  [23].

Astrobiology, a term first proposed by the Russian astronomer Gavriil Thkhov in 1953, investigates the link between life and the universe, which includes the search for extraterrestrial life, but also includes the study of life on Earth, its origin, its evolution and its limits. [24]  In 1998, NASA created the Astrobiology Institute which undertakes a broad range of activities embracing basic research, technology development and flight missions to help scientists understand the future course of life on Earth. Astrobiologists address three fundamental questions: How does life begin and evolve? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? What is the future of life on Earth and beyond?  [25] Whether life on Earth appeared spontaneously from the primordial organic soup, or if the seeds of life arrived from an extraterrestrial source, the dynamic interaction between the Sun, the Moon and the Earth provided an environment conducive for life to evolve once it appeared.

The Sun-Earth-Moon System of Greater Earth

The distance from the Earth to the Sun is 150 million km which called one astronomical unit or AU.  There is a coincidental aspect about this distance between the Earth and the Sun which also relates to the Moon. To understand it we need to realize that there are 109.2 Earth diameters (12,742 km) across the Sun’s diameter (1,391,426 km). There are also 109.2 Sun diameters between the Earth and the Sun at its furthest point of orbit (151,943,763 km). If one divides the equatorial circumference of the Moon (10,921 km) by 100 the result is the number 109.2. Likewise, if one multiplies the circumference of the Moon (10,921 km) by the circumference of the Earth (40,075 km) which equals 437’659’075 and divide by 100 the result, which is accurate to 99.9%,  is the circumference of the Sun (4’376’590 km). The ratio of Earth’s diameter to Moon’s diameter is 0.273.  (The Moon is 27.3 % the size of the Earth and orbits our planet at a rate of once every 27.322 Earth days). The ratio of the Sun to Earth is 109.2 = 4 X 27.3.  [26]

All celestial bodies of significant concentrated mass exert a field of gravitational attraction around their cores which extends to the point of tangential intersection with other celestial bodies. Earth’s gravitational influence extends 1.5 million kilometers in all directions from its center where it meets the gravitational influence of the Sun. This distance is 100^th of an AU. This distance indicates the radius and outer boundary of a region called Greater Earth and creates a sphere with a diameter of 3 million km. This sphere with our planet at the center has 13 million times the volume of physical Earth and through it, passes more than 55,000 times the amount of solar energy which is available on the surface of the planet. Inside this sphere is the Moon and occasional passing asteroids.

The Sun’s energy that reaches the Earth’s surface warms the planet, drives the hydrologic cycle and is the primary source of energy for the climate system which keeps Earth suitable for life. Solar activity which modulates the influx of galactic cosmic rays (high-speed particles that strike the Earth from space), has been shown to have a direct influence on cloud formation and has been correlated with warmer periods during high solar activity and cooling periods during low levels of solar activity. [27] Once water arrived on Earth, the Sun’s energy, its solar activity cycles and its gravitational influence on both the Earth and the Moon have created a complex, interactive and dynamic system. Thus, this cosmic dance between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun surely contributed significantly to the emergence of life in the oceans and later, the periodic tidal fluctuations may have led to the subsequent development of land creatures as aquatic creatures adapted to brief periods of exposure on dry land. The stabilizing effect of the Moon on the Earth’s tilt within the narrow range of 21.5^o and 24.5^o lessened the impact of extreme climate changes enhancing the environment for intelligent life to come into existence. Thus, without this dynamic relationship between the Sun, the Moon and the Earth, life and indeed, humanity may never have emerged and evolved on our planet.  [28]

Probably the first scientific mention about how this dynamic system began functioning on Earth was by the Scottish scientist James Hutton, when, in 1785, he called the Earth a living superorganism and said its proper study should be physiology. [29] Hutton came to believe that the Earth was perpetually being formed and he recognized that the history of Earth could be determined by understanding how processes such as erosion and sedimentation work in the present day [30] [31].

150 years later, Russian geochemist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, who is most noted for his 1926 book “The Biosphere” called life “a disperse of rock,” because he saw life as a chemical process transforming rock into highly active living matter and back, breaking it up, and moving it about in an endless cyclical process in effect that life is a geological force that shapes the Earth. Vernadsky proposed that the Earth went through three stages of development: the geosphere (inanimate matter) which was transformed by the biosphere (biological life) which is being transformed into the noosphere by the emergence of human cognition.  [32]

As the principles of both life and cognition are essential features of the Earth’s evolution, Vernadsky believed that these must have been implicit in the Earth all along eventually forming a sphere of human thought encircling the Earth and recognizing that humankind was becoming a powerful geological force. [33]  The concept of the noosphere, which is derived from “nous” the Greek word for the mind, is jointly attributed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Édouard Le Roy and Vernadsky who were all in contact with each other at the time. [34]  The British biologist George E. Hutchinson who is considered as the “father of modern ecology”, was one of the first western scientists who expressed an interest in the view that life is a geochemical process of the Earth and that all processes of ecological systems: whether they be biological, physical or geological should be considered together. 35]

These insights were all developed before the advent of spaceflight in the 20^th century and provide a background to the Gaia hypothesis. Originally proposed by the chemist James Lovelock and co-developed by the microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s and now recognized as a theory, it focused on observing how the biosphere and the evolution of life forms contribute to the stability of global temperature, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere and other factors of habitability in a preferred homeostasis.  [36] Lovelock, a scientist and inventor of an apparatus called the electron capture detector (ECD) used to detect tiny amounts of chemical compounds in the atmosphere, was invited by NASA in 1960s to help them devise instruments for detecting the presence of life on Mars. Lovelock realized that if life on Mars was bio-chemically or physically different from terrestrial life or, if the probe landed in a region of the planet that happened to be absent of life, such instruments would be ineffective. He then took a holistic approach to the problem and, realizing that life on Earth radically alters the atmosphere, he reasoned that analyzing the atmosphere of Mars might be a better approach. He was aware that the atmospheres of Mars and Venus are in a state of chemical equilibrium consisting mostly of carbon dioxide and, as such, they were essentially dead, whereas the Earth’s atmosphere was far from equilibrium and full of very active chemical processes. To him this was an indication that life existed on Earth and we could use approach this to look for life elsewhere in the Cosmos.

Lovelock discovered that these processes operated in such a way on Earth to regulate the environment by keeping it congenial for life even though the temperature of the Sun has been steadily increasing over millennia. From this he theorized that life on Earth operates like a superorganism that intimately involves a number of coordinated and interconnected processes involving the atmosphere, the Earth’s crust, the oceans and all of the life forms working together to regulate both the composition of the atmosphere and the temperature in order for life to exist and thrive on our planet. This integrated self-regulatory feedback system that he called Gaia – from the Greek goddess of the Earth and the ancestral mother of all life – has been going on for billions of years as life has evolved.  [37] The main criticism of the Gaia theory is that it seemed to imply a teleological aspect that somehow the system appeared to function with a goal or purpose and that this lacks empirical scientific evidence.  Lovelock has since stated that nowhere in his writings did he express the idea that planetary self-regulation is purposeful, or involves foresight or planning of the biota. However, he does maintain his faith in the Gaia theory which, simply stated, suggests that we inhabit and are part of a quasi-living entity that has the capacity for global homeostasis.  [38]

As planets must have just the right composition and be in just the right relationship to their star in order to come as alive as has Earth, evolution biologist and futurist Elisabet Sahtouris, inspired by the work of Lovelock and Margulis, describes this process of evolution by indicating that life did not just appear on the surface of Earth but rather the entire planet has become alive through an intricate web of cooperative mutual dependency. She views life as an autopoietic system that may be as large as the Earth or even larger, and that of Earthlife to be a planetary process as the chemical reactions of the planet’s crust speed up, these transform the crustal matter into a blanket of masses of microbes, which in turn transforms more of the crust into their livable home. As such, one could view the Earth as a self-creating living planet to distinguish it from it being a nonliving planet with life upon it.   [39]

Earth System Science (ESS), which has many correlations with the Gaia theory, is a relatively new discipline which considers interactions between the Earth’s spheres atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, pedosphere, biosphere and, even, the magnetosphere – as well as the impact of human societies on these components. [40]  ESS brings together researchers across both the natural and social sciences, from fields including ecology, economics, geology, glaciology, meteorology, oceanography, paleontology, sociology, and space science.  ESS assumes a holistic view of the dynamic interaction between the Earth’s spheres and their many constituent subsystems, the resulting organization and time evolution of these systems, and their stability or instability. [41] One example from ESS is that the silicate weathering negative feedback mechanism has counteracted the steady brightening of the Sun by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, this cooling mechanism is near the limits of its operation, because CO₂ has fallen to limiting levels for the majority of plants, which are key amplifiers of silicate weathering.  [42]

Combined with the astronautical aspect mentioned below, the ESS concept can be extended into the region of Greater Earth by incorporating the additional spheres encompassing our planet including artificial satellites in orbit, activities on and around the Moon and spacecraft placed at the outer edge of Earth’s true cosmic boundary. As many now believe we are living in the Anthropocene Epoch [43] in which humanity, with its technological capabilities, has become the equivalent to a geological force consciously impacting and changing Earth’s environment, the climate and the surrounding space, the teleological argument reenters the discussion when considering humanity’s present and future role in the Greater Earth System.

The Astronautical Aspect

Beginning on October 4, 1957 with the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1, humanity has continuously expanded the physical dimensions of its home planet by placing artificial satellites in Earth orbit. Since then about 8,100 satellites from more than 40 countries have been launched. As of 2018, some 4,900 satellites are still in orbit, of which approximately 2,100 are communication satellites used by both private and governmental organizations. Many are in geostationary around the equator or in geosynchronous orbits at 35,786 km from the Earth’s surface and, unless they are purposely removed, most of these satellites will probably remain in orbit permanently. Thus, in just over 60 years humanity has effectively expanded the territory of planet Earth from its solid dimensions of 12,756 km to a diameter of approximately 84,328 km with a sphere of satellites. If one considers that much of our global communications, the functioning of our economies, observations about the state of the environment and our national security systems are now dependent on this satellite technology, we can see this as an essential technical infrastructure that has enabled the aforementioned “noosphere” encircling and orbiting the Earth.

In 1959, the Soviet Union sent the first spacecraft Luna 1, 2 and 3 to successfully orbit and impact the Moon. In 1966,  Luna 9 and 10 made the first soft landings and between 1970 and 1976 Luna spacecraft 16, 20 and 24 returned samples of lunar soil and rock to the Earth. Two Soviet/Russian Lunokhod rovers landed on the Moon in 1970 and 1973.   Following President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 announcement of what became the Apollo program to send US astronauts to the Moon and to return them safely, a number of spacecraft were sent to orbit the Moon. Between 1969 and 1972, a total 24 US astronauts visited the Moon. Of these, 12 astronauts physically walked on its surface. Since then, the European Space Agency, India, Japan and China have successfully orbited the Moon and confirmed the discovery of lunar water. In 2013, China’s Change’3 landed a lunar rover on the Moon. Change’4 achieved humanity’s first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on January 3, 2019.  In 2019 Israel’s spacecraft Beresheet crashed while attempting a soft landing and later in 2019, India launched Chandrayaan-2 with a lunar rover aboard but the landing was also unsuccessful.  Yet, all of these activities have extended human civilization even further into the region of Greater Earth and onto the surface of our closest celestial neighbor.

Furthermore, the outer boundary of Greater Earth provides excellent locations for observing the Sun, our planet and the entire Cosmos.  At a distance of 1.5 million km between the Earth and the Sun is a place called Lagrange Point 1 (L1) A Lagrange point is a location in space where the combined gravitational forces of two large bodies, such as Earth and the Sun or Earth and the Moon, equal the centrifugal force felt by a much smaller third body. [44]

Here is where NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) and its Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) are located. Designed to study Earth’s climate, EPIC takes a photo of the Earth every two hours – in essence our planet is continuously observing itself. [45]  L1 is also a useful spot for observing the Sun and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) to study the structure of the Sun, the solar wind and to provide forecasts of solar storms have also been placed there.

Lagrange Point 2 (L2) is located 1.5 million km from Earth on the opposite side the Earth-Sun Lagrangian system and is a suitable point to position space telescopes observing the Cosmos. The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) designed to make fundamental measurements of cosmology in support of the Standard Model was placed there and was active until 2010 when the European Space Agency’s more advanced Planck spacecraft was launched to study the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from 2009 until 2013.  NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), planned as a successor to the Hubble space telescope and designed to conduct a broad range of investigations in the fields of astronomy and cosmology, is due also to be positioned at L2 in 2021. The Large Ultra Violet Optical InfraRed (LUVOIR) Surveyor which is currently planned for launch in the year 2030 and will be also positioned at L2.  LUVOIR will be an ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared free-flying instrument with a 15.1-meter diameter segmented design and instrumental capabilities are far in advance what we have today. LUVOIR would represent not an incremental improvement in space based astronomy, but a transformative one over any observatory ever proposed as it will have powers dwarfing both the 2.4-meter Hubble and the 6.5-meter Webb. [46]  As such, the ESS concept has been extended into the region of Greater Earth by these additional spheres encompassing our planet including satellites in orbit, activities on and around the Moon and spacecraft placed at the outer edge of Earth’s true cosmic boundary.

Conclusions

This article has attempted to show that Greater Earth is not only a region that operates under the laws of physics and celestial mechanics which defines its true cosmic dimensions and functionality, but it is also an interactive, interconnected biological and geophysical system that for billions of years has led to the appearance, evolution and maintenance of a living planet. This system has led to the emergence of a new bio-technological information system that has encircled the planet that enables knowledge to be created and instantly shared.

The formation of the Greater Earth System was a result of incredibly fortunate cosmic coincidences, including Earth being at the right distance from the right kind of star, having the right size, density and composition, then having an opportune collision with another celestial body which created the Moon which provided a gravitation influence which has helped to stabilize the climate and catalyze the evolutionary processes of life that eventually led to an intelligent technological species that has now enabled planet Earth to become both self-aware and capable of spreading its “seeds” to other places in the immediate Cosmos.

Recent astronomical discoveries indicate that Earth-like planets are common in the habitable zone of stars, and statistical research shows that planets with massive, obliquity stabilizing moons may occur only in approximately 10% of these. [47]  However, when one considers that the appearance and evolution of life on Earth over the past 3.7 billion years has not been a linear natural selection process but rather a haphazard series of fortunate circumstances with many starts and stops, including a number of mass extinctions along the way, yet resulted in the eventual appearance of an intelligent technological species that has impacted the planet’s physical environment as no other species and, in addition, has now also artificially extended the physical size of the planet beyond its atmosphere to enhance its communication capabilities; we must ask ourselves just how often similar circumstances converged, if at all, in the history of the vast universe.

As the 21st century unfolds, humanity finds that it needs more room and more resources to sustain its numbers and to maintain its thirst for further development and knowledge. The finite planetary resources that contributed immensely to its present state are being exhausted to unsustainable levels and their uncontrolled use within the biosphere is resulting in severe ecological damage as climatic and environmental changes pose a threat to future of all life. Governmental programs to address these issues with terrestrial solutions will lead to severe societal and geopolitical consequences.

Thus, humanity must take measures to consciously and intelligently intervene in Earth’s dynamic life systems in order to adapt to changes it is causing as well adapting to a constantly warming sun and other cosmic threats. As it is momentarily unequipped to occupy and transform a neighboring planet to meet its growing needs, humanity’s next logical step will be to discover and inhabit the last reaches of its own planet – to expand its activities to Earth’s true boundaries as defined by the laws of physics. Within the boundaries of Greater Earth our species will find the necessary room, resources, opportunities and inspiration that it will need to survive and prosper in the current millennium and, with some luck, to eventually become a spacefaring species.

Awareness of Greater Earth as a dynamic system unites the immense potential of space development with the critical terrestrial issues of ecological sustainability, environmental restoration, clean energy generation, global prosperity and international security. Occupying the region of Greater Earth including the Moon and geolunar space will contribute to making humanity universally conscious of its responsibility to all life sharing its home planet and of the crucial role and purpose of the human species in the evolution of life on Earth and beyond. Embracing the concept of Greater Earth as a new perception of our planet and understanding this as a dynamic system may be a viable strategy for merging the environmental and ecological movements with the economic goals of the space development community.

(*) Arthur R. Woods is an astronautical artist and independent researcher with two art projects successfully flown on the Mir space station. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and co-chair of the Moon village Association Cultural Considerations working group. 

References and Notes:

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