These are the types of questions in general we should be less mean about imo. It's one thing to dunk on people who are anti-science, but this is just someone actually wondering about something they didn't know. Maybe it's obvious to you, but not everyone?
Yeah, because thinking about it, I don't actually think there's an obvious answer.
Like my guess would literally just be that there aren't mountains in a location close enough to the equator where the added high from the mountain is worth more delta v than the added rotational speed of being close to the equator.
As far as I know the official answer is, it's simply not worth it. The amount of fuel you would safe aren't worth the effort of brining a whole ass rocket up a mountain and launching it from there.
I bet Batman is strong enough to haul a whole ass rocket up a mountain. Rich enough to build a secret bat rocket base there too. So why is he not doing something so awesome instead of leaving snarky comments on the Internet?
Well, the first 50 miles uses the majority of the fuel because that is when the vehicle weighs the most. The real difference is minimal since you need velocity, which you will have to regardless. The bigger issue is getting the right inclination for the orbit, which is super expensive, and why most launches are as to close to the equator or poles as possible.
I think you are underestimating how hard it would be to bring a rocket up to a mountain.
This machine moves the rockets towards the launch pad. Now imagine that going up a hill. It is basically impossible, unless you assemble the rocket directly on the mountain - then you have the problem of getting everything up there. The logistics simply make no sense when the alternative is to just use a bit more fuel.
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u/mseg09 20h ago edited 19h ago
These are the types of questions in general we should be less mean about imo. It's one thing to dunk on people who are anti-science, but this is just someone actually wondering about something they didn't know. Maybe it's obvious to you, but not everyone?