Quote:
Originally Posted by deanm
I understood that launch sites on or close to the equator are more energy efficient due to the Earth's rotational velocity (hence ESA doing Ariane/Soyuz launches from Kourou in South America, NASA at the Cape etc).
I would have thought NZ is a bit far South.
Polar orbit launches, however, are a different matter.
Dean
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At the equator the ground is moving 1669km/h or 463m/s
I think they launch from 36 deg south so at that latitude the ground is moving 1350km/h or 375m/s
At their planned orbital altitude of 500km the orbital velocity is 7615m/s so the saving would be around 1% if they moved to the equator.
36 degrees is still a lot less than the 45 degrees latitude at which Baikonur lies and the Soviets/Russians didn't do too badly when it comes to spaceflight
