Chandana Chandra explains: The moon is the only natural satellite of the earth. Owing to its size and composition, the moon is sometimes classified as a terrestrial or rocky planet.

According to the standard moon formation theory, the moon was derived from the Earth. This is authenticated by the bits and pieces of rocks that had been brought back by astronauts of the Apollo mission in1990s. These had striking similarities with those of the Earth.

“There has been both plant and animal life on the earth due to the presence of moisture and atmosphere. Plants, animals, water and atmosphere have weathered rocks to form soil. But due to the absence of both atmosphere and water, there cannot be life on the moon. The soil that is found on the surface of the moon is nothing but rock powder which can’t sustain any life on it,” says geologist Prof Sisir Sen, former dean of IIT, Kharagpur.

Due to the lack of atmosphere, the temperature of the moon’s surface varies between -180 ?C and 110 ?C. Thus the moon offers little protection from solar winds, cosmic rays and micrometeorites.

When bombarded with cosmic rays, the radioactive elements present on the lunar crust emits gamma rays on its own and so it is not surprising that there is no form of life on the moon.

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Sushant Banerjee, Dhanbad