SpaceX Found new Solution to Land Starship NO LEG on the Moon, Better than China...

Описание: SpaceX Found new Solution to Land Starship NO LEG on the Moon, Better than China...
===
#spacezone #space #spacex #starship
===
SpaceX Found new Solution to Land Starship NO LEG on the Moon, Better than China...
During a Flight 10 webcast, SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot commented on landing Starship on Mars, saying: “They’re just going to put minimally viable landers on the surface — land right on the skirt, no [landing] legs.” That sparked a question for me: if Starship can land on Mars without landing legs, could the same approach work for the Moon?
The current plan for landing humans on the Moon involves equipping Starship with landing legs, mainly due to the Moon’s uneven terrain. However, this approach runs into a familiar challenge — the same reason SpaceX is now catching Starship with a giant launch tower on Earth: weight.
SpaceX Found new Solution to Land Starship NO LEG on the Moon, Better than China...
Starship is significantly larger and heavier than Falcon 9, so it would require much bigger and stronger landing legs. Estimates suggest that at least six legs would be needed to properly support the vehicle, adding considerable mass. On Falcon 9, the landing legs are made from carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb core — a strong, lightweight combination that absorbs impact and enables reusability. Carbon fiber isn’t cheap, but the investment makes sense when the legs are reused.
In contrast, Starship HLS isn’t expected to return to Earth — it lacks heat shields and flaps, and is designed for one-way missions on the lunar surface. That makes expensive, non-reusable landing legs a questionable trade-off.
SpaceX Found new Solution to Land Starship NO LEG on the Moon, Better than China...
So, can we realistically land Starship on the Moon without huge landing legs? At least not in an upright position.
You might recall the robotic lander Odysseus—back in 2024, it became the first American-built spacecraft to touch down on the Moon in more than 50 years. It toppled over at an angle. That limited how much science it could do on the lunar surface because its antennas and solar panels weren't pointed in the right directions.
Intuitive Machines tried again the next year with another lander, Athena, but it also failed and landed sideways. It couldn’t get enough sunlight on its solar panels and ended its mission early.
Turns out, landers flipping or rolling on the Moon isn’t that rare. It is really that difficult to land upright there!