XPost: sci.space.policy   
   From: root@mauve.demon.co.uk   
      
   In sci.space.tech Cris Fitch  wrote:   
   > wbogen@visteon.com (Bill Bogen) wrote:   
   >> 4) Once on the Moon, use the rover to explore possible lava tube sites.   
   >   
   > In addition to the rovers and the orbital imaging solutions,   
   > the cluster-bomb/ping-pong ball camera idea should also be considered.   
   > What is the smallest useful lander/sensor system we can build?   
   > Even if the landings are hard, perhaps the pictures they send back just   
   > landing will be useful.  Also, are there clever ways of landing   
   > a ping-pong ball on the moon (or Mars) that we can't consider   
   > for larger payloads?  Or maybe just mini-retro rockets.   
   > Maybe we can soft land a lander that then contains an arsenal   
   > of ping-pong sensors that it fires in various directions.   
      
   I proposed something similar a while back.   
   Getting 2000m/s out of a solid rocket is not especially hard.   
   Taking a lunar orbiter in very low lunar orbit (say 20Km), and a   
   dispenser that spins and orients before igniton, the impact is   
   some 250m/s.   
      
   Hard, but perhaps not impossibly so.   
   A simple tiny reterorocket would be a good idea.   
   (triggered on a timer and horizon sensors)   
      
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