Why aren’t we taking full advantage of the planet we’re living on? If we launched rockets from mountains, they'd be closer to space where the air is thinner so we could use more vacuum optimized engines.
Or why don't we launch rockets from the equator? The Earth is moving quite quickly at the equator which gives a substantial boost in the initial velocity of the rocket. I mean it’s free energy right? How much of a difference does launching rockets from different locations actually have?
Today we’re going to dive into the physics of launching rockets from different spots on the earth. We’ll go over the pros and the cons of launching from mountains or closer to the equator in great depth and see if we can figure out why exactly we just don’t see rockets launching from these locations all that often if at all.
Prerequisite "Orbit VS Suborbit" - https://youtu.be/xE1A6T1cycU
00:00 - Intro
02:45 - Launching from a mountain
12:45 - Launching from the equator
20:10 - Summary
Article Version - https://everydayastronaut.com/why-dont-they-just-launch-rockets-from-mountains-or-the-equator/
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