# Lunar Orbit speed

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lunar-orbit-speed/602447>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 10, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lunar-orbit-speed/602447 "2011-11-10T00:16:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lunar-orbit-speed/602447/1 "2011-11-10T00:16:18Z")

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Looking at this clip from "2001: A Space Odyssey "

[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2tGbsQkIc0)

(starting at time index 9:18)

Made me think…with no atmosphere on the moon, a satellite or craft could orbit rather close to the surface.

With an orbital altitude of one km, would it be possible to track a craft across the lunar sky with the naked eye?

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lunar-orbit-speed/602447/2 "2011-11-10T00:37:25Z")

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The period of a moon-skimming orbit is about about 110 minutes so you’d see motion pretty easily, I think.

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**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lunar-orbit-speed/602447/3 "2011-11-10T00:52:55Z")

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NASA’s lunar prospector spent six months orbiting 30 km above the moon. But at 1 km, looks like it wouldn’t last long at all, the moon’s gravitational pull is “lumpy” due to uneven density.

> **[Bizarre Lunar Orbits | Science Mission Directorate](https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/06nov_loworbit/)**
>
> Mysterious concentrations of mass in the Moon's ancient lava seas disturb the orbits of Moon-circling spacecraft. NASA is taking these "mascons" into account as the agency prepares to return to the Moon.