In 1966, the Soviet Luna 9 survived a near-vertical landing on the Moon with a speed of about 50km/h (approx 30mph). It used an inflated bag to cushion the impact.
In 1997, America's Pathfinder rover used a similar technique and touched down on Mars with a similar vertical speed. It was designed to take an impact about fifty percent greater than it actually experienced.
It would be possible to land something at a high velocity, providing the vertical component is not much more than that of Luna 9 or Pathfinder. Horizontal speed can be killed by rolling and bouncing, as happened with Pathfinder when it struck the surface at an angle of about 50 degrees.
The downside of this approach comes in the form of any significant vertical obstruction such as a large boulder or a cliff face.
Bob Christy
============================================================== What speed do you think would be max survivable speed for a landing on the moon for a robot, or comm system?
How fast could something hit and survive?
Joe