71–75 of 75 posts
That's a whole new meaning to halt & catch fire.
The lithobraking maneuver was sub-optimal.
SN9 knew the ground was where it was, but had an engine mishap preventing power to match control, so I’m debating with myself whether it was CFIT or UFIT. Maybe a superposition of both?
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The engines were tested at sea level with the vacuum nozzle. Not being gimballed is bad, but they are throttleable, at least. All these crazy failure modes will have to be tested before Starship is human rated.
You are correct. There is even footage from a test on Youtube. Thanks for pointing this out.
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The lithobraking maneuver was sub-optimal.
Controlled descent into terrain. SN9 knew the ground was where it was, but had an engine mishap preventing power to match control, so I’m debating with myself whether it was CFIT or UFIT. Maybe a superposition of both?
It was a little more boring than the engine-rich exhaust of SN8.
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What would they replace it with?
I'd advocate for doing the flip on three engines for the added redundancy, then hovering for a second or so before landing; at least for passenger flights.
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The atmosphere on Mars is not as thick as ours so there might be an issue with that winged glider vision. And then there is the moon...
Both have much weaker gravity though.