Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!ncar!gatech!udel!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu!dep
From: dep@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (David Pugh)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: soft landing on the moon (was: Shuttle round trips to the moon?)
Keywords: shuttle moon
Message-ID: <4010@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 12 Jan 89 19:47:36 GMT
References: <14549@oberon.USC.EDU> <2198@crete.cs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 12

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
--