[samesamebutsame]

Generally the plan is to put down a pad once you've got the first ship there.

There's some cool NASA concepts around for what is basically a household microwave with wheels that melts the regolith into a ceramic type material.

https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/35319/can-you-real...

[aaron_m04]

How well does regolith absorb microwaves?

[janto]

According to the parent comment's link "Tiny specks of metallic iron (Fe0) are embedded in each dust particle's glassy shell [...] microwaves melt lunar soil in less time than it takes to boil a cup of tea"

[aaron_m04]

That's unexpectedly convenient for this plan!