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A comment on Russian Assets Reportedly Seized at Baikonur Cosmodrome by Kazakh Authorities. Parent comment

Re:Russian Assets Reportedly Seized at Baikonur Cosmodrome b... by latchkey on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @12:08PM (#35153773)
I never considered this and your response made me ask google the question: "Where is the best place to launch a vehicle?"

"The land at the equator is moving 1670 km per hour, and land halfway to the pole is only moving 1180 km per hour, so launching from the equator makes the spacecraft move almost 500 km/hour faster once it is launched."

Neat, thanks for such an interesting answer.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Russian Assets Reportedly Seized at Baikonur Cosmodrome b... by jareklupinski on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @12:43PM (#35154328)
wondering if there is an inhabited planet somewhere out there much more optimized for launching spacecraft

with its equatorial denizens barely hanging on to its surface

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Re:Russian Assets Reportedly Seized at Baikonur Cosmodrome b... by s1artibartfast on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @12:56PM (#35154534)
Size and mass are the other big factors.
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Re:Russian Assets Reportedly Seized at Baikonur Cosmodrome b... by Symbiote on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @03:24PM (#35157041)
Kourou, at 5° North, is very nicely positioned.
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Re:Russian Assets Reportedly Seized at Baikonur Cosmodrome b... by hadlock on Thursday March 16, 2023 @04:44PM (#35188268)
Yeah it's no accident SpaceX built their test launch facility on the beach in Texas, less than 10 miles from the southernmost point in Texas. Brownsville is about 20 miles away and is a natural, true deepwater port which is also helpful, but primary reason was to get as close to the equator as possible while still being on the US mainland. You can throw about 9% more mass into orbit on the equator than from NYC. Florida coastal property is mostly built out and southern Texas is mostly vacant + has a very favorable business climate and lax (state-level) environmental regulations which doesn't hurt either.
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