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To: T.B. Yoits
> It's almost as if though they're not supposed to mess with the mass of the moon which would change its orbit.

LOL. The Moon's mass is roughly 73.4 sextillion metric tons.

Let's say you built a moon base that weighed 1,000 metric tons. It would add 0.000000000000015% to the Moon's mass. That's not even measurable.

If you launched all the material mined on Earth in an entire year (about 100 billion tons) and piled it onto the Moon, it would still only change the Moon's mass by a negligible 0.00000014%.

And even if the amount of mass added was significant, the mass of a satellite (whether it's the Moon or a feather) does not affect its orbital path. The movement of mass from Earth to Moon might shift the Barycenter (which is deep inside the Earth) perhaps the width of an atom or less. Basically unmeasurable and certainly negligible.

Don't lose any sleep over the Moon's orbit. It's known natural orbital change (it drifts away from Earth a couple inches per year) far exceeds anything we humans can do to it.

10 posted on 05/29/2026 7:41:15 AM PDT by dayglored (This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24)
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To: dayglored

It’s people like you that make it hard to live with their phobias.
:)


15 posted on 05/29/2026 7:54:22 AM PDT by RCFlyer
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To: dayglored
...the Moon's orbit. It's known natural orbital change (it drifts away from Earth a couple inches per year) far exceeds anything we humans can do to it.

That "negligible" initial change of 0.00000014% will still have an impact. The deviation of the moon's orbit will continually worsen.

18 posted on 05/29/2026 8:09:48 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: dayglored
“ It's known natural orbital change (it drifts away from Earth a couple inches per year)”

What causes this?

19 posted on 05/29/2026 8:16:29 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: dayglored

Interesting info! Thanks


59 posted on 05/29/2026 11:22:12 AM PDT by US_MilitaryRules (#PureBlood )
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To: dayglored

We’re not going to go to the Moon without mining when we get there [Notwithstanding the erection of a Trump Casino...]?

And then lifting that mass off to somewhere else in the Universe?


70 posted on 05/29/2026 4:59:37 PM PDT by Paladin2 (YMMV)
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