I'm very impressed by how it's coasting on the fins down the atmosphere. I had never even heard that idea discussed before I saw SN8 do it.
Of course, they'll have to land some other way on Mars or the Moon.
Of course, they'll have to land some other way on Mars or the Moon.
That phase wipes off >99% of the total energy required to get to 0 m/s, which is pretty remarkable because Mars' atmosphere is ~1% of Earth's.
That they (at least on paper) have a solution for this problem good enough for a 60 metrr craft weighting 100+ tons makes the whole thing even mord remarkable! :)
Good thing we have physics and math :)
On earth it's also about spreading the heat of reentry over a larger area. Fortunately on Mars (I believe that) the heat of reentry is even less of an issue than here on Earth.
Are they planning on landing starships on earth? with Orbital refuelling couldn't they just land it like a Falcon 9 (I mean I guess that'd be super inefficient)
They plan to land passenger ballistic re-entry starships which fly without a booster directly to another city on earth in <30 minutes. These are going relatively slowly.
They plan to land orbital starships, which is like landing the dragon capsule. These are going far faster than the falcon booster ever goes. The second stage (on top of the falcon) never lands, it's disposed of every mission. The StarShip (top half) is essentially a reusable second stage.
The Starship mars or moon editions will remain in orbit and never land on Earth again after initial launch. These do not need hardware for an Earth descent and will rely on refuelling. The Moon edition will have no heat-shield tiles (no need for atmospheric entry) and special thrusters half-way up.
You are correct that interplanetry velocities are very high, so yes... a Mars entry at Earth-Mars transfer velocities is likely to be quite ... exciting. I can't remember how exciting though.
Starship is intended to re-enter from orbit, which is a lot faster. Using aero braking requires much less fuel, and avoids the need for a re-entry burn which may not even be feasible.