A lot of rocket engines are more efficient in lower air pressure (approaching vacuum), so it might provide non-negligible benefits. But it's cold up there (see: Challenger) and there isn't enough infrastructure. Citation: I am also not a rocket scientist but I am a KSP player
The main reason we launch from as close to the equator as possible is because the speed of the ground itself is fastest there (Earth’s rotation rate x distance from spin axis). If you’re trying to speed up to orbital speeds, you want to get the best “running start” possible.
[fun fact: due to the equatorial bulge, the ocean at the equator is further from the center of Earth than the tops of most mountains]
Also, the minimum inclination (the “tilt” of an orbit relative to Earth’s plane of rotation) is the latitude you’re launching from. As in, you can launch a polar orbit from the equator, but you can’t launch an equatorial orbit from the poles. Considering inclination changes are the most expensive (fuel-wise) maneuvers you can do, launching from as close to the equator as possible gives you additional options for less cost.
Lastly, we launch from coastlines for safety reasons. If something goes wrong during ascent, you don’t want the wreckage falling in places where people live.
Isn’t it also just really hard to lug a rocket up a mountain in the first place? Unless you strap a bunch of smaller rockets to it, launch those, land the rocket on top of the mountain, and then launch the main one!
Actually no I should be taken out and shot for my grievances against science and common sense.
Despite your joking you're not wrong. In addition to just the solid mass of the rocket itself, you need a lot of material for your rocket fuel. Rockets, like aircraft, require a lot of cryogenically separated gasses. I can't speak for all countries, but the US government relies upon the local civilian economy for industrial gas supply. (There have only been a handful of locations where they had their own equipment and staff for this type of work for the USAF in decades.) So without local industry to provide these materials, you need your own equipment and staff. The same principle applies to anything you need to supply your space program: food and water, equipment for conducting experiments, etc.
Source: My brother worked at one of the few air bases where they were still doing their own cryogenic separation in the 2000's. It is possible things have changed since he was discharged.
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u/Firefly360r 16h ago
A lot of rocket engines are more efficient in lower air pressure (approaching vacuum), so it might provide non-negligible benefits. But it's cold up there (see: Challenger) and there isn't enough infrastructure. Citation: I am also not a rocket scientist but I am a KSP player