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Is suicide burn a viable landing method for manned rockets? Would need a comfortable G force, perhaps 3g for 10 secs?

And then how many successful unmanned demonstrations until passengers feel comfortable trusting it? 1000?

I think that unless they prove they can nail this every time, it'll be tricky to use a suicide burn for landing manned craft. Passengers may also object to the name of the maneuver.

I guess a manned starship is many landings after the first unmanned landing, at least in Earth.

> manned starship is many landings after the first unmanned landing

What number makes you comfortable? 100 flawless landings, 1000?

My guess is, after about 20 successes in a row you start to have competent people that want to risk it and go to Mars. Being first at that carries huge prestige.

If your minimum thrust is > 1g then you can't hover and so have to use a suicide burn. Manned rocket launches have a sustained 3g force. Rollercoasters commonly hit 5g.

There is some room in suicide burns between what humans find easy to handle and what is possible to make the rocket work. But you do have to think about this.

Viability of ~= 1g thrust? Perhaps keeping the same engine some downwards thrust can be redirect sidewards with some obstructing shape moved into the exhaust plume

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