[orbital-decay]

People are going to leave traces on the Moon, this way or another. I see very little difference between landers, rovers, human ashes, and garbage piles astronauts are going to leave near a surface habitat. This isn't something that should be either stopped or encouraged, unless it's something like nuclear waste. Potential biological contamination is another question, and it's been given plenty of thought already.

There are no land property rights on the Moon or any other celestial body, according to the current treaty. It's going to stay that way until the world powers will have something to gain from it. The exploitation of potential water resources already caused some talk on that matter.