> After the base layer is deposited, alumina particles of approximately 0.024 millimeters in diameter would be required to heat up and liquify as they pass through the engine.... The pad would then require 2.5 seconds to cool before the vehicle touches down for a safe landing.

That's really, really fast solidification. I'd be worried about inadvertently sinking in or brazing the landing legs into the pad and making takeoff impossible. On investigation, though, a 6 meter diameter disc has a surface area of 28 square meters. Building that disc with 186 kg of alumina, which has a density of about 4 g/cm^3, would give you a plate with a thickness of only about 1.6 mm.

I think this is just a one-time-use landing pad, not a landing-and-takeoff pad. Its purpose is to prevent lander damage and contamination of the research area by ejecta.

The tech is still cool, don't get me wrong, but I guess I imagined something more like a spaceport runway with a massive slab of steel-reinforced concrete. This is more like dropping a Nomex blanket to land on than what I had in my head when I read "landing pad".