A COMPANION TO THE LEF SERIES
Research Topics
What the model opens for other researchers
Abstract
The LEF model proposes that the Moon was built from the Earth's own material while still attached to it. A fast-spinning, hot Earth raised a pear-shaped extension, and deep, volatile-rich melt fed a body on its tip. The Earth's outer shell rose with that body and became its crust, and the body was released when its centre of mass reached the corotation line. This companion to the series computes nothing new. It collects from Papers 1–11 what they leave open: untested requirements, studies defined but not yet run, calculations marked "to be computed", and results marked partial or awaiting. To these it adds fifteen questions from the series' working notes. Each item is stated as a research topic another group can take up as a paper of its own. Topics that recur across papers are merged, with all sources kept. The 118 topics are grouped in ten parts: the Earth before and during the pear; the body on the tip; the orbit; the maria and the openings; the craters and their source; the poles; South Pole–Aitken; the stripes of the Pacific floor; Mars and other bodies; and the requirements and key tests. Each topic gives its question in one sentence, the model's prediction with its number, the data that exist or are needed, the method, and where the series treats it. A final part lists the two key observations of the model, the topics that can be done now on public data, and those that need a large simulation, a mission or samples.
Keywords: Moon; lunar origin; research agenda; open questions; lunar missions; planetary science; Mars moons
How to cite
Duran, Z. (2026). Research Topics: What the model opens for other researchers. A companion to the LEF series. https://lef-model.com/paper12.html