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Excuse me but I really appreciate your replies, so my reading of what your saying is the launch is less about reaching a height but instead reaching a velocity
by throwaway69123 5y ago
Excuse me but I really appreciate your replies, so my reading of what your saying is the launch is less about reaching a height but instead reaching a velocity that can escape earth’s gravity and launching from a higher altitude just decreases the distance the rocket has time to reach this speed?
- SonicScrub 5y agoThings in orbit like satellites and the moon have not escaped earth's gravity at all. There's lots of gravity in orbit. Being in orbit is when the centripetal force from an object's tangential velocity matches the force of gravity. In other words, get thrown so fast that the arc of your trajectory continually misses the Earth as the surface curves away from you. The only reason why you need to go up at all is the pesky atmosphere works to slow you down, making it difficult to maintain such high speeds. Satellites have to be up high enough that drag becomes less of an issue. If it weren't for the atmosphere, you could achieve orbit 10 feet off the ground if you moved fast enough.