My thoughts are, going too high is a waste of fuel (in addition to getting up there, you have to brake coming down).
Full forward velocity as soon as you can — slow only when closing on the base. (Faster you can get to your destination, again, less fuel needed to stay aloft.)
It is not unusual for me to land with empty tanks. As long as you have stopped horizontal velocity, it is somewhat forgiving vertically (I suppose the landing shocks are well engineered).
BTW, the landing gear on the Apollo LM employed a collapsible honeycomb that absorbed energy by being crushed. Of course, works only once.
The X-20 Dynasoar was to have a similar shock absorber for landing — some sort of metal tensioning wires that took up energy by being stretched.
I was trying to straighten copper wire (the kind you run in your home) by holding one end very firmly in a vise and then putting my strength into pulling on several feet of the wire with a pair of vise grips. It was hard to pull, but there was a fascinating moment when the wire "gave" and I was able to stretch it an inch or so at which point I was unable to stretch it any further.
Straightened the wire for sure. But what an odd molecular dance there must have been going on within that copper.
The height is not only to avoid terrain, it is also to buy you time to move horizontally. It is more efficient to go higher at the beginning of the flight and taking a parabolic path than to try to maintain altitude any lower. Even with the braking burn, which for the same reason should occur as low as possible. Your engine is most efficient when your craft is moving quickly - the Oberth effect.
Full forward velocity as soon as you can — slow only when closing on the base. (Faster you can get to your destination, again, less fuel needed to stay aloft.)
It is not unusual for me to land with empty tanks. As long as you have stopped horizontal velocity, it is somewhat forgiving vertically (I suppose the landing shocks are well engineered).
BTW, the landing gear on the Apollo LM employed a collapsible honeycomb that absorbed energy by being crushed. Of course, works only once.
The X-20 Dynasoar was to have a similar shock absorber for landing — some sort of metal tensioning wires that took up energy by being stretched.
I was trying to straighten copper wire (the kind you run in your home) by holding one end very firmly in a vise and then putting my strength into pulling on several feet of the wire with a pair of vise grips. It was hard to pull, but there was a fascinating moment when the wire "gave" and I was able to stretch it an inch or so at which point I was unable to stretch it any further.
Straightened the wire for sure. But what an odd molecular dance there must have been going on within that copper.