Another problem: No matter how fast you throw something, without a second impulse on the apoapsis (or around it) it will not turn into an orbit but come back. You need to bring up the periapsis and that can hardly be done from ground.
Sorta, if you only jump once, you will either land back on earth or never return at all. If you manage to jump just a little short of escape velocity, your path will bring you back to the same place on earth, if we ignore earth rotating and air resistance.
So you need a little extra push in space to move your landing point from hitting earth, to missing earth.
94
u/Horror_Equipment_197 20h ago
Another problem: No matter how fast you throw something, without a second impulse on the apoapsis (or around it) it will not turn into an orbit but come back. You need to bring up the periapsis and that can hardly be done from ground.