I have to disagree that it has any place outside of a speculative mention within this article  This is mostly because all of the science surrounding powered descents without heatshields due involve the concept of a tethered descent  All of the science regarding this topic is contained within the topic of the space elevator  This includes the material concerns robotics energy transfer to power the climbers etc  Even more notable is that all the talk on this topic mostly concerns ascension ie placing satellites into orbit  Very little is concerned about or researched on the topic of descension with a space elevator  Mind I call it a space elevator because this is the recognized term used to describe it within technical circuits including NASA and other research institutions  I agree that the idea is a possibility within  years for a powered descent without heat shielding  but as of now there is simply no research talk or even speculation on any project to even look into it  Thus a mention at best within the article