The Damage to Lunar Orbiting Spacecraft Caused by the Ejecta of Lunar Landers

Re:The Damage to Lunar Orbiting Spacecraft Caused by the Eje... by m4rtink on Tuesday May 23, 2023 @10:07PM (#36053229)

Actually, Moon is rather immune to Kessler syndrone due to its bumpy gravity caused by sub-surface mass concentrations.

So Kessler syndrome could certainly develop for a whiley but would be cleaned up rather quickly as all the pulling & pushing of the "rough" gravity converts the orbital speed into heat, until all the fragments impact the surface.

Might be a bit more dangerous on the surface for a while though, with lot of stuff striking it at near orbital speed in an almost horizontal direction. That could ruin your evening stroll quite badly.

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Re:The Damage to Lunar Orbiting Spacecraft Caused by the Eje... by bigiain on Tuesday May 23, 2023 @11:46PM (#36053829)

I wonder if "would be cleaned up rather quickly" means hours, months, or decades?

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Re:The Damage to Lunar Orbiting Spacecraft Caused by the Eje... by m4rtink on Sunday June 04, 2023 @07:43AM (#36184835)

IIRC single digit years probably - Apollo missions released a couple sub satellites and missions control was then very surprised when those satellites lost altitude and crashed in a matter of months.

In comparison, there is likely still stuff from the 60s in orbit around Mars, and that's for a body with (thin) atmosphere.

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