Moonseed (Stephen Baxter novel)

Moonseed is the title of a 1998 science fiction novel by author Stephen Baxter.

Plot summary

Moonseed is an exploration of what could possibly happen when rock returned from the Apollo missions contain a mysterious substance called "moonseed" (a form of grey goo, whether nanobots, an alien virus or something else) that changes all inorganic matter on Earth into more moonseed.

Stephen Baxter combines a host of disciplines (space travel, geology and disaster theory) to tell a tale where the rocks are literally swept from under the feet of humanity. During the course of the novel, in which Edinburgh 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 a moonrock containing the moonseed accidentally falls into an active volcano, 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 and volcanic 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 to terraform the Moon for colonization, to provide a safe haven for some surviving humans before Earth eventually disintegrates into nothingness along with human civilization.

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 of NASA's performance over the last thirty years, as well as the United Kingdom's disaster programs.