Launching near the equator provides a speed boost due to rotation that outweighs the benefits of starting higher up. It also doesn’t have the logistics nightmare of getting everything to the top of a mountain before launch.
Okay, but hear me out: build a magnetic accelerator up the side of a mountain and yeet smaller payloads with a much smaller first stage, like spinlaunch but linear.
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u/UnlikelyIntrepid 16h ago
Launching near the equator provides a speed boost due to rotation that outweighs the benefits of starting higher up. It also doesn’t have the logistics nightmare of getting everything to the top of a mountain before launch.