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I'm not sure a rocket landing could blow a rock into a stable moon orbit. Blow them to escape velocity maybe. But if a rock is "in orbit" after being blown upw

I'm not sure a rocket landing could blow a rock into a stable moon orbit. Blow them to escape velocity maybe. But if a rock is "in orbit" after being blown upward and away from the moon's surface, then wouldn't its "orbit" pass beneath the moon's surface?

simonh 6y ago
That assumes the potentially chaotically turbulent, expanding blast of exhaust gas propelling these rocks only imparts a single instantaneous linear impulse. It's possible some rock fragments might be kicked up from the surface, and then accelerated laterally away from the landing site by the gas cloud.
- Diederich 6y ago
  Perhaps? Delta-v from the surface of the moon to orbit is about 1.6 km/second, though debris from a landing would be approximately instantaneous thrust, which doesn't allow insertion into an orbit.