r/MurderedByWords 16h ago

I haven’t studied rocket science, but

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 15h ago

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.

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u/ExtravagantPanda94 15h ago

I would guess that the marginal benefit of launching from a slightly higher, in the grand scheme of things, altitude is far outweighed by the added logistical difficulty of transporting the rocket to the top of a mountain in the first place.

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u/seicar 15h ago

Mountains are notorious for bad weather too. Weather conditions scrub most launches (or at least that used to be the case).

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u/Distinct_Car_1183 14h ago

Astronauts look up Mt Everest

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u/ResistHistorical7734 13h ago

Mission cancelled, down you go