> If you could launch from a high elevation you could spare some energy because there the atmosphere is thinner.

Reminds me of Eve on Kerbal Space Program. Gravity so high and atmosphere so thick that I had to use a helicopter contraption to lift the spacecraft to the highest possible altitude in order to get the rocket to even make it to space to say nothing of the absurd delta-V needed to actually inject into orbit.

My guys were stuck on that planet for a long time...