Comment Re:Other planets (Score 1) 151
Also in your favor on Mars, your landing pad isn't pitching up and down on waves. On the other hand, the ground is not necessarily a smooth, flat, level pad. SpaceX has demonstrated the ability to hover, so as long as you have decent fuel reserves, you should be able to spend some time searching for a good spot.
However, in the case of using this technology to land on Mars, there is a significant difference: you would be using it to land a rocket (first stage and all) on the planet after having done a long coast from Earth and a violent re-entry. That is definitely more difficult than returning a first stage to the ground after lift off.