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  1. the_fungible_man on

    >In terms of moon-circling rubbish, there is no natural cleaning mechanism like the drag Earth’s atmosphere induces on orbiting flotsam.

    >Fragments circuiting the airless moon just stay there, bound in the lunar gravity.

    That depends on the orbit and altitude.

    Most low lunar orbits (<100 km) are unstable and decay relatively quickly due to the effects of lunar MASCONs.

    Above ~700 km, perturbations due to the Earth serve to destabilize lunar orbits.

    Debris is never good, but implying it will persist forever in cislunar space is disingenuous.

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