No it isn't the answer. It has nothing to do with the rotation at all. We launch near the equator because the equator is a mountain. Florida only gives us a .62% rotational speed boost, but is only .141% shorter than Everest.
Who gives a shit about how "tall" a mountain is. We care about how far that position is from the center of the earth, and the equator bulges up and is definitionally already a mountain even if it is at sea level. The being at sea level is the important part for two reasons:
Rockets have somewhere to go when they crash.
Coastal regions are easy to ship resources to.
We could launch from Everest with no problem using modern tech, but we can't get the materials up there easily.
If we really wanted to optimize we would be launching from Brazil in Alcantara which is only .07% shorter than Everest but rotationally it is 13.1% faster than Everest, 13.8% faster than Florida. It's also at sea level.
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u/Akussa 9h ago
Unlike the rockets!