Elite Dangerous: How to Perfectly Land on Planets

Whether Commanders are farming engineering materials, completing missions, or exploring, Planetary landing has become a regular necessity in Elite Dangerous. Commanders previously lacking the necessary DLC for landfall, Horizons, can now join in on the adventure; Frontier now includes Horizons with the base game for free, allowing for a free upgrade as well. Some Commanders choose to avoid planetary landing due to its higher complexity than landing at a Starport. However, while progressing through engineering, planetary landing will be something they will need to learn.

Not all planets are landable, and landing procedures will vary based on a planets’ mass, gravity, and orbit. To see if a planet is landable, check the system map and look for the desired planet. If it has a light blue arc around the left of the planet, then it is landable. The same arc with three rectangles attached to the top left indicates either a base or a settlement. Once the desired location is found, it’s time to orbit and land!

How to Land on a Planet in Elite Dangerous

The same base principles will apply to all landings but vary slightly from planet to planet, depending on their attributes. For example, a small moon will have a much smaller orbital cruise radius than a more massive planet. With this in mind, the first step is to land is reaching Orbital Cruise. While a planet is locked onto, the Super Cruise panel to the left of the Scanner (the mini-map) will indicate the distance a Commander is from the Orbital Cruise radius.  The safe entry speed for Orbital Cruise is indicated on the speed indicator of the Super Cruise Panel.  If a Commander approaches the Orbital Cruise radius faster than 200km/s, their ship will complete an emergency drop, and the Commander will need to re-enter Super Cruise.

The altimeter will show the distance from Orbital Cruise (OC) to drop (DRP), where the ship will exit Super Cruise and enter interplanetary flight. Finally, the furthest right horizontal lines in the array indicate rate of descent. If the descent rate is in the red, pilots will need to decrease their descent rate before they hit drop altitude; if they do not, their ship will emergency drop, not allowing for glide. When dropping from Orbital Cruise, the ship will enter glide mode. If too low of a glide angle is hit, glide will disengage, and the Commander will be in planetary flight. If too steep of an angle is reached, the ship will emergency drop and take internal damage. Completing the glide is the fastest way to reach a planet’s surface, as well as any settlements or stations. A shallow entry angle and a shallow glide angle are the fastest way to reach any point on a planet.

The higher the gravity, the more thrust is required to keep the ship stationary. Thankfully, Flight Assist will handle this. Beware, gravity causes the ship to handle slower and will take longer than usual to complete maneuvers. With higher gravity planets and ships holding significant cargo, too much downward momentum may become impossible to control. Don’t forget, Commander; Space is unforgiving.

If docking on a planetary base, proceed to 7.5km from the settlement and request for docking. If landing for a mining operation or exploration purposes, find a flat spot slightly larger than the ship and begin descending. At a low enough altitude, the Scanner will begin showing the surface below the ship. If the orange dot below the ship displayed on the Scanner turns blue, the area below the ship is suitable for landing.

Once above the landing sight, decrease to a comfortable altitude and deploy the landing gear. Align the orange bar using the indicators. Once aligned, the orange bar will turn blue, indicating proper ship alignment. Decrease altitude (slowly) until the landing gear touches the ground. The ship will notify you of a successful landing and shut off engines.  Landing is more complicated than No Man’s Sky but far more rewarding.

How to Leave a Planets Surface in Elite Dangerous

To depart a station, either select Launch or Auto-Launch and increase altitude. If leaving the planetary surface, hold the”up” thrust until the engines start and increase altitude. The ship will be mass-locked until 2km altitude preventing jumps. Engage the Frame Shift Drive and align with the Escape Vector when jumping. Use the circle with crosshairs left of the Scanner and the blue dot to determine its location and any other locked location in the game. When jumping to another system, the system will need to be in line-of-sight of the ship. Be warned; Ships will heat up much faster when engaging the FSD while on a planetary surface. The higher gravity of a planet, the faster the ship will heat up.

Tips for Landing in Elite Dangerous

With the basics covered, there’s a good deal of optimization to be done on landing. Here’s what Commanders need to know to master interplanetary flight:

• During Orbital Cruise and scouting for a suitable landing location on a planet’s surface, position the ship, so the planet is visible through the left or right of the cockpit canopy for the best visibility.
• A dotted target indicator shows that a target is obstructed and will become solid once in line-of-sight.
• Use Head-look mode to visually scan the planet’s surface and look for the escape vector.
• A drop height of around 500km and a low approach angle will typically result in the closest possible distance from drop to the desired location on the surface.
• If landing on the dark side of a planet, use Night Vision for a significant visibility increase. To activate Night Vision, go to the ship page in the right-hand panel. It can also be bound to an input on controllers or keyboards.
• Use Heatsinks to avoid overheating while activating the FSD.
• When dropping into planetary flight, it is not uncommon for an NPC to follow close behind. Check the Contacts section of the left-hand panel and scan to see if they’re friendly.
• When in an SRV, the mothership can be sent away to avoid any ill-intended Commanders.
• The forward thrusters in any ship are the strongest. If falling at an uncontrollable rate, set the pitch to the highest angle possible and boost. This won’t always work but will at least save some of a ship’s hull.
• The blue section of the throttle indicator shows the best range for ship maneuverability.

Be warry of gravity and keep the approach angle shallow, Commander. Happy flying, and keep an eye out for more planets to land on in the coming months!

Elite Dangerous is available on Steam, Epic Games, Xbox, and Playstation.

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