text: when will the moon lose orbit from earth (ascend away into space)? the moon's orbit is not permanent, in what year range will the moon break orbit and become a planet with it's own solar orbit. the moon will not escape earth orbit. it is currently moving away from us at only 38 mm/year, due to energy transferred by tidal forces. the energy transfer is also causing earth's day to become longer (currently it is increasing by 15 microseconds each year).  theoretically, the moon's orbit would increase until the earth's day slows to match the moon's orbital period. after this point, solar tides will dominate and the moon will start moving closer to earth.  before this happens, the sun will become a red giant (5 billion years from now).