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A system whose mutual gravity confines its constituents rather than letting them separate indefinitely. In an isolated two-body problem, the relative specific orbital energy $\epsilon =v^2/2-G(M_1+M_2)/r$ is negative exactly for bound, noncollisional Kepler orbits; $\epsilon =0$ is the marginal escape case. External forces, collisions and time-dependent potentials require additional qualifications. The separation of a gravitationally bound system is determined by its equations of motion and need not follow the cosmological Hubble flow.

The Earth-Moon pair is a gravitationally bound system, so its separation does not obey $\dot{r}=H_{0}r$. The Hubble flow describes the motion of the approximately homogeneous cosmological matter distribution; it is not a compulsory extra velocity assigned to the members of every local orbit. Thus the numerical proximity of the counterfactual rate to $3.8\mathrm{cm}\mathrm{y}{\mathrm{r}}^{-1}$ is not evidence for that explanation.

The observed recession arises principally from tidal dissipation. The Earth rotates faster than the Moon orbits, so the displaced tidal response transfers angular momentum from the Earth's spin into the lunar orbit. For a nearly circular orbit, increasing orbital angular momentum increases its size. A model of this effect must include the appropriate tidal response, rather than add a universal Hubble flow recession.

A residual local cosmological tidal acceleration can exist, but its background scale is $|(\ddot{a}/a)r|\sim H_0^{2}r$, not an imposed first-order secular drift $H_{0}r$. At $r=4\times 10^8\mathrm{m}$,using $G(M_E+M_M)\simeq 4\times 10^{14}{\mathrm{m}}^3{\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$. The cosmological scale is about $10^{-24}$ of the mutual gravitational acceleration. Its detailed coefficient depends on how the local system is embedded in the cosmological background. Cosmological expansion can be neglected for the lunar recession calculation at the stated precision; this conclusion follows from binding and the tiny residual local cosmological tidal acceleration, rather than from comparing two recession speeds.