On: The damage to lunar orbiting spacecraft caused by ...

[_joel]

That's still throw ejecta in the air though and sounds just like a recipe for disaster.

[yetihehe → _joel]

If you hover high enough in vacuum, gases have enough time to disperse and won't throw ejecta that much, but those melted aluminum droplets can travel relatively unimpended and solidify on contact. You land only when you have good solid surface.