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Why would they? It lands under thrust like the Falcons, with two major differences: 1. it goes back to its launch area rather than merely going down as the Fal
by svachalek 6y ago
Why would they? It lands under thrust like the Falcons, with two major differences:
1. it goes back to its launch area rather than merely going down as the Falcons do (why the Falcons need to land on a ship)
2. it's too heavy to get enough air resistance by falling vertically like the Falcons, so it does this amazing belly flop with a "flip and burn" at the last moment
- terramex 6y agoYou are talking about Starship (second stage). Super Heavy (first stage booster) will not do belly flop and will use special "catching" structure, its details are unknown as of today.
- mohaine 6y agoI believe that need for the belly flop isn't due to weight but is needed for the higher reentry speeds the upper stage. The current F9 reentry speeds are nothing like what is needed for orbital speeds not to mention from Moon/Mars. If you are already doing a belly flop for reentry, you might as well do it all the way down to minimize the landing fuel penalty. For unmanned flights you can do it really late even if they crash at a low rate. I would expect manned flights to be less aggressive, especially near term.