Since Elite: Dangerous’ ‘Horizons’ update will allow you to land ships on certain planetary bodies, it stands to reason that a slightly different HUD will be required.
The latest Elite: Dangerous newsletter talks through the new planetary approach HUD and includes a few images to demonstrate how it will work.
That vertical orange line on the display is the new altimeter. As you approach a planet, this will show you how close you are to nosediving into the surface and (hopefully) help you judge your speed.
The central aspect of the cockpit display is the pitch gauge, which should help ships align with planetary gravity and (when necessary) figure out which way is ‘up’. There’s a horizon line here that’ll help indicate when you’re flat(ish) to the planet’s surface, and, again, prevent unfortunate explosive accidents.
As you get properly close to the surface and are ready to land, the heading gauge (the part at the top) will point towards the planet’s poles and help orient directions.
The landing-assist display will operate much as it does when docking at Elite: Dangerous starports, but will display local terrain instead of a flat docking area. Your ship will light up in blue when it’s safe to land.
Here’s another image mid-landing (and showing a possible point of interest).
