Landing a spaceship

I was trying to think of a way to land a spaceship. The best I could think of was a ridiculously long airstrip for landing, and lots of catapults for takeoff, but then there was the problem of having land good enough to support the weight of a spaceship (i.e. it'd be better if you didn't have to rebuild your airstrip every time something lands), plus the landing gear would have to hold the shock.

Then I had a bit of literal shower brilliance, and it makes sense because it involves water. What if there where no landing gear? What if there weren't even land? What if instead of landing, it was a splashdown?

Assume a fairly standard sci-fi ship about the size and weight of a modern destroyer. We're also assuming it can sustain atmosphere reentry (otherwise, what's the point of landing, am I right?). As far as I'm concerned, for atmospheric flight, all it needs to do is be able to fly about straight-ish until it reaches either orbit or the ocean. The kind of planets we want to land on are Earth-type, all of them, no exception.

Here are the questions:

• Is this really a more sensible way to land a spaceship than on land?
• What systems/design features would it need to be able to land, float on seawater, and takeoff?

posted over 7 years ago

AmiralPatate‭

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