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Lunar landing ejecta of large craft can even destroy spacecraft that are ORBITING the Moon, like @LRO_NASA, unless you can time the Collision Avoidance (COLAs) correctly. We put this into NASA's guidelines for Moon landings. See page 15: nasa.gov/directorates/h…
2/ This is why we need international agreements ASAP where we agree to hold each other harmless for some degree of ejecta spray that we put onto each other's lunar hardware. We need to agree to design all our hardware to handle it, and that it's our own fault if we don't.
3/ Because it is simply impossible to do major lunar activity without putting spray all over the Moon onto each other's hardware. This is because the Moon is unlike Earth: NO ATMOSPHERE to stop the super high velocity dust that comes from a rocket engine during landing.
4/ International laws like sharing the ocean shipping lanes assume that whatever you do can be pretty much localized around your ship. But on the Moon, large vehicles like the Apollo Lunar Module immediately affect the entire globe. It can't be localized, unless...
5/...unless you build a landing pad to stop your lander from making any ejecta. But you can't build a landing pad in a new location until AFTER you lander there at least once. So there WILL be ejecta on the Moon affecting other nations' spacecraft.
6/ This is why we must forge international agreements. If we don't, it will lead to conflict and possible showdowns.
