It's pretty similar to what they did with Curiosity, but here's an animation that shows the plan for Perseverance landing on February 18.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rzmd7RouGrM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I love the fact that just a few weeks ago SN9 tipped over and now it's getting ready to launch. I can only imagine the months/years something like this would set back the SLS development program.

This is almost certainly Elon time, but...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A few months</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1342062363105759232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pretty much lol. Gotta love SpaceX!

This is gonna be fun


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy Booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to take the load</p>— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1344327757916868608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

lol
I imagine that is one of his Starship goals that won't be reached for many years, if ever. Makes more sense than trying to land without legs directly on a mount though. If they can throttle accurately enough to hover and give the arm a few seconds to reach out and adjust positioning before engine cutoff.

SN9 has completed ambient and cryo proof tests. Maybe a static fire next week?

This is a pretty neat overview of the big space stuff that happened this year if you have an hour to spare.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h2f0vqgYdLc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Sounds like SN9 might static fire today.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021...e-test-flight/

Sounds like they are predictably trying a fix of SN8's RUD for SN9.

SN8’s test was a huge success, despite the explosive finale. The vehicle successfully conducted numerous first-time milestones, with only the loss of thrust from the re-lit Raptors causing the landing burn to fail and the hard landing.

Mitigation of that landing burn issue, which was blamed on the CH4 Header Tank losing pressure, has been implemented into SN9.

“SN9 will press CH4 header tank with helium,” noted Elon, responding to Tim Dodd on Twitter. “Long-term solution is under debate. Not clear what is lightest/simplest.”

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z72Au8Px7mM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Had the static fire yesterday. Maybe another one today:

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-sta...r-static-fire/

Bump for a random SpaceX satellite launch in 45 minutes.

Pushed back a bit.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Team is targeting 9:15 p.m. EST for tonight&#39;s Falcon 9 launch</p>— SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1347354155589910531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Thanks for the heads up. Music just started.