another post got me thinking about aerobraking to a 'soft' landing on the
moon

it may be possible if the soft lander were preceded by a hard impactor that
could excavate a significant amount of ejecta back along its trajectory,
like a shaped charge in reverse...

the soft lander could aerobrake on this ejecta plume in the time honoured
way - via armored ablative shield and perhaps lithobrake at a more sensible
velocity

cheers