REM%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (05/31/83)
From: Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC> Gee, that's a fantastic idea (in both connotations of the word, both strange/weird and wonderful/brilliant). You'll need a shield against the ablative effect of the dust. Perhaps you first toss enough dust up to orbit to construct a shield, and you do so. Then your soft-lander "burrows" through additional tossed-up dust on its way down. While on Luna, it is equipped with a brand new shield for the up trip. On the way up yet more tossed-up dust gives it orbital velocity. Once in orbit it sheds the up-shield, dons its ion rocket (or gets docked with an ion-rocket tug) for non-landing maneuvering, then sheds the ion rocket or tug and dons a down-shield for the next trip to Luna.