4 ms·

Is Denali worth it, given its remoteness, horrid weather patterns, and distance from the equator?

• KGIII 9y ago
  From the little I know about rocket surgery, probably not. There are better places to launch from.
  • njarboe 9y ago
    From US soil? Not sure the US would put 10's to 100's of billions into a launcher and not have it in the US. Maybe the Panama Canal land grab route would be what would happen instead of Denali.
    • KGIII 9y ago
      We'd probably use the current facilities. I suppose we could also try for Hawaii or Puerto Rico. The land grab is also an option, given the likely political climate if it reaches this point. My understanding is that closer to the equator is better, with some caveats.
      • stevep98 9y ago
        > My understanding is that closer to the equator is better, with some caveats. For this project, I don't think it matters. They even said they will orient the launcher vertically. The reason you normally want to be closer to the equator is that you get some sideways velocity from the rotating earth, and that is faster nearer the equator. This is important for low earth orbits because the sideways velocity is very high. However, in this case they don't really care much about sideways velocity. They want to reach escape velocity. As you go higher, the sideways velocity needed to stay in orbit gets smaller, until finally it's practically zero. So, any gain they would get from being near the equator wouldn't be needed. I think.
        • KGIII 9y ago
          I'm still pretty skeptical about them putting it on Denali. It just seems really unlikely - and insanely difficult. It's also considered sacred by some of the natives, as I understand. I am imagining the outrage.