 First edition cover | |
| Author | Stephen Baxter |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Chris Moore |
| Language | English |
| Series | NASA Trilogy |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Voyager Books (UK) |
Publication date | 3 August 1998 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 500 |
| ISBN | 0-00-225426-3 |
| OCLC | 39606642 |
| Preceded by | Titan |
Moonseed is a 1998 science fiction novel by British authorStephen Baxter, and the final book in the NASA Trilogy. The story envisions an alternate history in which thecanceled Apollo missions went ahead as planned.
Moonseed is an exploration of what could possibly happen when rock is returned from theApollo 18 mission (which was actually cancelled in 1970).[1] In the book, the rock contain a form ofgrey goo called "moonseed" that starts to change all inorganic matter onEarth into more moonseed. It also gets transferred by a NASA probe toVenus, and the explosion of Venus is the first clue as to what has been happening.
Stephen Baxter combines a host of disciplines (space travel, geology anddisaster theory) to tell a tale where the rocks are literally swept from under the feet of humanity. During the course of the novel, in whichEdinburgh is the focus for much of the action,Venus is destroyed by an unknown cosmic event that showers the Earth with radiation that somehow stirs the moonseed on Earth. When Moon-dust containing the moonseed is dropped onto the streets ofEdinburgh by a lab assistant of the main character, Earth's fate is sealed. The moonseed begins to disintegrate the planet from the inside-out as the core heats up exponentially, while on the surface,nuclear power stations catastrophically fail, earthquakes andvolcanic eruptions are abundant, and billions of people die as cities and continents vanish.
Over the course of the cataclysmic erosion of Earth, a collective of scientists and engineers in space agencies from around the world desperately try toterraform the Moon for colonisation, to provide a safe haven for some surviving humans before Earth eventually disintegrates intonothingness along with human civilisation.
This novel also presents numerous theories and ideas about the space-faring future of humanity, albeit in an alternate dimension where we are forced into space by an eroding Earth. It is also, in many stages, critical ofNASA's performance over the last thirty years, as well as the United Kingdom's disaster programs.
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