Scientists at NASA were able to work out many of the challenges they would face during the lunar landing of Apollo 11 through testing and research, employing their vast understanding of both science and mathematics. However, one obstacle they faced, which they couldn’t test for or model, was the great unknown of how deep the dust on the moon was.

To combat the unknown, 37 inch pie plate shaped disks were placed on the end of the landing gear “so that the lunar module could sink in up to the descent stage and still allow the ascent stage to launch successfully, even if the moon's surface were covered with 10 feet or more of dust1.”

Separating the two motors, ensured that the craft could sink into the unknown depths and not have the ascent