Why does Starship belly flop?

Why is SpaceX doing the belly flop with Starship? Why are they going from belly flopping and then flipping to tail down and why are they doing that so close to the ground? Why don’t they just start the flip maneuver earlier and ensure there’s enough time to make corrections if something goes wrong? We’ll also dive into the different options SpaceX has with lighting engines, how many engines can they run and at what altitude? Is running on more engines better? And can parachutes be a back up if the engines don’t work? And of course, we’ll answer the ultimate question. Will this ever be safe enough for humans? Can you even survive the G forces?! Should SpaceX just give up on the belly flop and do a landing more like a Falcon 9, which has proven to be highly successful? So today we’ll look at the wonders of terminal velocity, gravity drag, thrust to weight ratios, and engine throttling to see why SpaceX is trying this belly flop maneuver and see if we think it’s worth it or if SpaceX should go back to the drawing board. Check out the article version of this video here! - https://everydayastronaut.com/starships-belly-flop-maneuver 00:00 - Intro 03:15 - How The Flip Maneuver Works 06:00 - Why Belly Flop / Terminal Velocity 13:15 - Thrust to Weight Ratios / Engine Throttling 21:00 - Gravity Loss / Gravity Drag 26:25 - Why Flip So Late 33:45 - Can This Be Safe? 39:30 - Conclusion Be sure and follow Cosmic Perspective on YouTube too! http://youtube.com/cosmicperspective -------------------------- Want to support what I do? Consider becoming a Patreon supporter for access to exclusive livestreams, our discord channel and subreddit! - http://patreon.com/everydayastronaut Special thanks to our "Mission Directors" - Benjamin Holland, Dr Roy Jenevein & Dr Nahid Khazenie, Sylwester Ratowt, Scott Maley, Robin Haerens, Krystifer M.I. Colli-Biondi, Brock Barron, Casey Cheshire, Rob Nunn, James and Becky Carter, Tim Engle, Ian Marr, Taron Lexton, Chris Meleg, Corey Coddington, Chris LaClair, Peter F Maher, Steve Kemp, Vincent Argiro, Lars Nielsen (Denmark), IMAJIN, Derek Rowe, Nick , Jeff Hutchinson, Austin Murnane, Frans de Wet, Chad Souter, Sam Fisher, Jason Kelnhofer, Arthur Carty, Lawrence Mansour, DLB, Chris Dibbs, David Glover, Scott G Raderstorf, Max Haot, John Malkin, TTTA , Seth Pascale, Jared smith, Simon Pilkington, Héctor Ramos, Alejandro , Tomdmay , Mac Malkawi, Manalope , Tristan Edwards Or become a YouTube member for some bonus perks as well! - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6uKrU_WqJ1R2HMTY3LIx5Q/join The best place for all your space merch needs! https://everydayastronaut.com/shop/ All music is original! Check out my album "Maximum Aerodynamic Pressure" anywhere you listen to music (Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, etc) or click here for easy links - http://everydayastronaut.com/music I'm the cohost of an awesome podcast where we talk all about current technologies and how they shape our future! http://ourludicrousfuture.com or here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/ourludicrousfuture