That contradicts of "being sturdy". Tried it, and still blown to pieces.
Don't misquote me. There's a difference between "being sturdy" and "being stury enough".
Anyway, they're about as tough as a Runabout, so Gauss Cannons shouldn't blow them up either (unless I'm missing something special about them). For the record, I used the Tractor Beam (I was doing a mid-campaign update). Still required me to disengage before the landing was forced, but no explosions.
EDIT: I just got to thinking - I had to disengage before the landing was forced. Maybe the same happens with the generation of a crash site - you have to disengage after damaging them enough. At their hull level, only a few weapons (Obliterator Cannon, Hammermite, Meteor, Avalanche, Fusion Ball, and Implosion Bomb) should be capable of blowing them up.