One of the things that makes the game visually boring and landing difficult is the lack of any way of seeing the planet you're orbiting from space. It would be nice to see the curving horizons from space, gradually taking up less and less space and being more curved as you go further and further away from the planet. As you approach the surface, the horizon could become a sort of distant mountains view, and the parralax between two or more layers could help guide the viewer to know how close they are to land.