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Re:Starship / Super Heavy by systemvoltage on Saturday December 26, 2020 @11:55PM (#25548966)
Curious why does it need to wait so long to reorient? I thought it was going to crash and in last few hundred feet, it flipped! Can it orient straight - way up in the air like Falcon boosters?
Re:Starship / Super Heavy by SECProto on Sunday December 27, 2020 @12:03AM (#25549004)
Reorienting requires the use of main engines. You want to relight them only once, to ensure that the header tanks and the "downcomer" remain full. Additionally you want to burn off as much speed as possible with the bellyflop, so flipping vertical as late as possible. All combined this means combining the landing burn with the flip is best, as close to landing as possible.
Re:Starship / Super Heavy by ateng on Sunday December 27, 2020 @12:15AM (#25549047)
It has a cute nickname, “Suicide Burn”.

Why is it efficient? [https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/2z534g/...]

Re:Starship / Super Heavy by CGZp9X9k on Sunday December 27, 2020 @07:36AM (#25550607)
Guessing we won't be using constant altitude landings in real life?