Scientists look for answers to earth's beginning under the moonscape

(Reuters) - As countries and companies rush to build infrastructure on the moon, some researchers are planning to dig under its rocky soil to unlock mysteries about Earth that have eluded scientists since astronauts first stepped foot on its surface a half century ago.

Scientists theorize that the moon, a quarter the size of Earth and weighing about 80 times less, was formed some 4.5 billion years ago from the remnants of a collision between early Earth and another planetary body, possibly as big as Mars. The pieces of the planetary body orbited the earth before eventually coalescing into the moon we know today.But the oldest rocks found on Earth date back just 4 billion years ago, leaving scientists with a 500 million-year blind spot during the most crucial periods of our world's formation.