system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Since the moon has no atmosphere to induce drag, can an object theoretically orbit at say, 1 meter above the highest landform on the surface if the velocity is correct? Would this orbit be stable? If so, what's the velocity?
gpt
No, and the reason is the Moon's gravity is not uniform, it has significant "mascons" (mass concentration). These perturb low lunar orbits, causing satellites to impact the surface typically within under 2 years. There are four orbital inclinations known as "frozen orbits" where things are stable because the effects of the mascons cancel themselves out in the long run, but even then a perilune 1 metre above the highest mountain is probably perturbed below that in the short term. You've also got perturbations from the Earth and Sun, and effects of solar radiation, to consider.