Planetary Landing: Difference between revisions

[[File:Horizons-reveal-cobra-landing.jpg|thumb|300px|A Cobra MkIII preparing to land on a planet's surface]]

'''Planetary Landings''' are the act of landing on the surface of a [[Terrestrial Planet|terrestrial body]] with a [[Ships|ship]]. This requires installing either a [[Planetary Approach Suite]], which allows landings on planets with no atmospheres, or an [[Advanced Planetary Approach Suite]], which allows landings on planets with no atmospheres or [[Atmospheric Landings|tenuous atmospheres]]. Landing on planets with atmospheres greater than 0.1 atm is not currently possible.

Some celestial body types, including water worlds and bodies with significant amount of lava covering their surface, cannot be landed on even when they have no atmosphere. The reason for this is likely due to there being no current  game mechanic to deal with water, lava, and other large bodies of liquid substances. Earth's moon, Luna, cannot be landed on despite a lack of atmosphere; it is not known why. All yellow-coloured volcanic moons (similar to and including Jupiter's moon Io) will list 0.00 atmospheres, and cannot be landed on. The reason for this is unknown, though it could be due to the large amounts of volcanic activity on these moons, requiring implementation of their own game mechanics. Some bodies are permit locked for unknown reasons and therefore cannot be landed on. An example of this is Neptune's moon Triton, which could be landed on until it was unexpectedly permit locked.   

The landings are graphically seamless with a small pause for instance loading, including peer-to-peer (p2P matchmaking and instance creation, and the planets can be explored in low-level flight or by using a Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle.<ref name=":1">[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous/description Elite: Dangerous by Frontier Developments - Kickstarter]</ref> Once on the surface, players can discover natural and artificial [[Points of Interest]], including [[Settlement]]s, [[Surface Port]]s, [[Shipwreck]]s, and more. The nature of the encounter may vary depending on the planet type and composition, and the local topography affected by geology.<ref name=":5">[http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dcbf6b86b4b0c7d1c21b73b1e&id=47bd8c04aa Elite Dangerous Newsletter #97]</ref>

Landing on a planetary surface requires installing the [[Planetary Approach Suite]] or [[Advanced Planetary Approach Suite]], without which a ship will not be able to descend from orbit. The process of landing also involves more ship management than dropping from [[supercruise]] at an orbital [[Station]] or another point of interest. It is recommended to check the gravity of the targeted planet or moon in the [[System Map]] before attempting a landing, as high-gravity worlds can overwhelm ships with weak thrusters and cause them to crash or touch down too quickly and inflict severe or fatal damage.

These are the 10 smallest known landable planets.

|4

|5

|B 4 A

|6

|Michael E. Brown<br />Chad Trujillo<br />David Rabinowitz

|7

|8

|9

|Hypao Brai KW-V b5-2

|Rocky Body

|CMDR Valemax2

|10

== Notes ==

*Planetary Landings were added with the ''[[Elite Dangerous: Horizons]]'' 2.0 update on December 15, 2015.

*[[Atmospheric Landings|Planetary landings on planets with tenuous atmospheres]] will be introduced with ''[[Elite Dangerous: Odyssey]]'' on May 19, 2021. This will expand the number of landable bodies in ''[[Elite Dangerous]]'' by approximately 20%.<ref name="Footfall">[https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/elite-dangerous-odyssey-q-a-first-footfall.564630/ Frontier Forums: Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Q&A- First Footfall]</ref>

File:Elite Dangerous Odyssey - Atmosphere - Argon (new lighting) patch 9

* [[Atmospheric Landings]]