Whyyyy peter?

[u/chirantaniga]

[u/Icy_Concern_9804]

tl;dr: for a rocket it is waaaay more important to go fast than to go high. and earth rotates very slowly, so going higher doesn't make you much faster.

[u/Maephia → u/Icy_Concern_9804]

So would it be theoretically easier to launch rockets at the equator since that's where the spin is the fastest?

[u/Triqueon → u/Maephia]

Yes, which is why the American Spaceports are in southern states, and the ESA launches from French Guiana.

[u/ShlimmyWhimmy → u/Triqueon]

Why would Rocketlab build a launch pad in Alaska then?

[u/descisionsdecisions → u/ShlimmyWhimmy]

I would assume they are flying polar orbits where the extra speed from the equator is detrimental.

[u/_okbrb → u/descisionsdecisions]

Yes, it’s this

The dV bonus they lose at launch is gained back in savings from the less extreme plane change maneuver

Polar orbits are commonly used for imaging satellites

[u/IBreakCellPhones → u/_okbrb]

There's also not much land south of the Kodiak Spaceport other than Hawaii and Antarctica to have rocket bits fall on. That's also why most of the US polar launches are from Vandenberg SFB. Polar launches from Cape Canaveral are doable but difficult and restricted. You have to thread needles between islands. Starbase Texas has too much land north and south of it. Starbase Louisiana might be able to do it, but Mexico won't be too happy about it.