>>20398337Okay, so the absence of abundant dust on the footpad is due to the descent module engine having blasted away all the dust as it approached the surface. You can see in this photo, taken just below the engine's cowling, that the "soil", or regolith, was blasted by the exhaust gases, and by the time the footpad touched the ground, most of that loose regolith was already gone and blasted away. However, careful analysis of the edges of the footpads (I have other detailed photos) shows that it was still blasted by some residual dust, just not enough to get it all covered in dust, because on the moon, dust doesn't float suspended in the air, like on earth, so nothing lingers in suspension to settle down later on.
