I came across the idea of launches from Ecuador while reading about spaeflight. IIRC, I assumed 3,000m launch (assumed a suitable site near Quito exists), and c

I came across the idea of launches from Ecuador while reading about spaeflight. IIRC, I assumed 3,000m launch (assumed a suitable site near Quito exists), and calculated a disappointing, less-than 10% increase in payload, assuming a BFR as the launch vehicle. However, for a kinetic energy launcher, or small rocket like the new record-settinf Japanese SS-520, that improvement would be a lot larger (and more importantly, the logistics a lot easier!). The thing is, with rocket size increasing, payload increases cubically while air resistance is squared. So for the really big rockets, altitude is not as big of a factor as being near the equator. If I am not wrong, propulsive landing on drone ships uses another roughly 10% fuel (depends on launch trajectory, etc). As fossil fuels are non-renewable, and Hydrogen expensive, I am very sure (and even hope to be correct) that in the future we will see launches from high-altitude equatorial regions, using booster-capture technologies and perhaps even terestial-power-assisted launches. Those things may reduce the fuel-cost of escape velocity by 30+%, and when we're sending enough stuff into orbit that this is too advantageous to ignore, we will do it. But for now, the best way to go is to get really good at building bigger rockets.