Lunar Landing

A small lander, a limited tank and a yellow pad. Tilt to drift sideways, burn to slow your fall, and straighten up before the feet touch.

Rotate, fire the engine and save fuel to set the lander down gently on the pad.

FreeOn this device

SiteMode

Assist: show stopping height

Change keys

Dimensionless game physics — gravity 1.6, engine 4, fixed 60 steps a second; training runs the same physics at 60% speed. The assist line marks where full upright thrust would stop your fall; it never flies for you. Not a model of any real spacecraft.

Paused. Height 47.0 · sideways 0.00 · rising 0.00 · tilt 0° · fuel 30.0 of 30.

Controls

Arrow Left and Arrow Right rotate; Arrow Up fires the engine; P pauses. All four keys can be changed under Change keys.
On a touch screen, hold the large Left, Thrust and Right buttons — several at once if you like. Letting go stops thrust immediately.
Start, Pause and Restart control the flight. Assist draws the height where full upright thrust would stop your fall.

The rules

Gravity pulls down at 1.6; the engine pushes at 4 along the lander's own up; it turns at 90° a second.
The engine burns 1 fuel per second of thrust. With an empty tank you can still steer but not slow down.
To land, both feet must touch one pad with sideways speed at most 1, falling speed at most 1.5 and tilt at most 10°. Touching anything else, or the body touching first, is a crash.
Leaving the landing zone fails; a warning shows when you are near the edge.

Scoring, saving and limits

Each site records which modes you have landed in, and the most fuel you had left on a standard landing.

Progress, key settings and the assist choice are kept on this device. Flights are not saved part-way.

Dimensionless game physics with a fixed 60 steps a second, so the speed of your screen never changes the outcome. Not a model of any real spacecraft.

Questions

Why did I crash on the pad?: Check the reason: usually falling faster than 1.5 or tilted more than 10°. Straighten up early and give short burns near the ground.
What does training change?: Time runs at 60% speed. The physics, fuel and landing limits are the same.
Is the reference landing possible for me?: Yes — it is an ordinary recording of key presses replayed through the same engine. Every site has one that lands.