Abstract The standard plate tectonics paradigm and the giant impact hypothesis of lunar origin face a set of unresolved anomalies: the biomechanical impossibility of Mesozoic megafauna (sauropods up to 100 t, pterosaurs with 12 m wingspan) under present gravity, the anomalously thin cosmic dust layer on the Moon (1–5 cm), the presence of radiocarbon in “ancient” samples, the striking synchrony of global events around 170 Ma (oldest Pacific oceanic crust, Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, Karoo‑Ferrar traps, Pangaea breakup), the unique anomalies of Venus (retrograde rotation, dense CO₂ atmosphere, D/H ratio 100–150 times Earth’s), and the faint young Sun paradox. We propose a unified physical model that explains all these paradoxes together. The Earth was expanding – slowly in volume (through hydrogen degassing) and in mass (through accretion and abiogenic water synthesis) – but the key event was a one‑time catastrophe 170 Ma ago. A secular resonance with Jupiter drove Mercury into a highly eccentric orbit, causing a three‑act ballistic rebound: (1) a glancing impact with Mars stripped Mercury’s silicate mantle (forming the Main Asteroid Belt), decentred the Martian core and permanently stopped Mars’s growth; (2) Mercury extracted the Moon from the critically overpressured Panthalassa region, preventing an explosion of the Earth; (3) Mercury jammed Venus’s axial rotation (causing its retrograde motion and extreme day length) and delivered terrestrial gases captured from Earth’s plume, explaining Venus’s isotopic identity and D/H anomaly. We introduce a novel Volumetric‑Dynamic Synchronisation (VDS) method that dates planetary bodies purely by geometry (R³· D² = const), independent of radiometry. Using Mars as a frozen reference, we calculate Earth’s radius at the time of the catastrophe (≈4489 km) and its true age (≈1.13 Ga). This short chronology instantly resolves the faint young Sun paradox: 1 Ga ago the Sun’s luminosity was already close to present. The Moon’s young age (163–180 Ma) is independently confirmed by cosmic dust accretion and layered regolith from deep drilling. Perfectly round lunar craters with intersecting rims are interpreted not as impact scars but as gas bubbles from the young Moon’s degassing. The model makes testable predictions (δD trend in ancient zircons, residual radial geodetic signal, high H₂ in ancient basalts, plasticisation of granite in dense CO₂), which are currently being verified. If confirmed, the expanding Earth with hydrogen degassing, the Jurassic ballistic reconfiguration of the inner planets, and the geometric VDS chronology will become a new paradigm in geology and planetology.