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Re:Starship goes up. Starship goes down. But is the program ... by derekp7 on Thursday March 04, 2021 @09:49AM (#26343087)
Since the moon lander version has high-mounted Dracos to touch down without kicking up dust, would it be possible for Earth Starship to incorporate a similar design as a backup landing system?
Re:Starship goes up. Starship goes down. But is the program ... by ceejayoz on Thursday March 04, 2021 @10:29AM (#26343603)
You'd need substantially more of them in Earth's gravity, and they're not going to save you from an explosion unless you make the crew capsule detachable.

The flip-and-land maneuver doesn't permit much "uh oh, it's gone wrong..." time to correct, either. I think they're going to have to go more in the direction of airliner-style "look, things kinda have to work" - there's no ejection seat, no parachute.