PARIS. June 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Earth may lose the Moon, and the latter may turn into a new planet, just like Mercury, once a moon of Venus, did, Central Machine Building Research Institute General Director Gennady Raikunov told Interfax-AVN at the Paris Air Show 2011 in Le Bourget.
"There is a theory that Mercury was a Venus' moon once but drifted away at some point and became an independent planet. We know that the Moon moves farther from the Earth each year and will leave the Earth [orbit] at some point if the reverse process does not happen," he said.
"Can it be so that the Earth shares the Venus lot and develops an aggressive atmosphere, a huge pressure, a green house effect and other factors lethal for living organisms?" he wondered.
The academic community believes that Venus, the Earth and Mars had similar starting conditions but developed in different ways. Space research will help understand whether the Moon's departure can change the Earth environment and whether it is possible to prevent the negative events, he said.