dep@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (David Pugh) (01/13/89)
Is there any "cheap" way to soft land something on the moon (cheaper than pointing the engines down & balsting away, anyway). Would a long runway (crashway?) of foamed lunar rock work? The basic idea would be to put the payload into an orbit with a perigee which would have it fly through a series of barriers, where each barrier is designed to absorb just enough energy (as it breaks apart) to "gently" slow the payload pod down. -- Never be angry when a fool acts like a David Pugh fool. It's better when fools identify ....!seismo!cmucspt!cat!dep themselves...it removes so much uncertainty. --Lord Peace --