Wait... most of the energy of going into orbit is in accelerating to orbital speed (lateral), not getting away from earth (vertical). That's true for Low Earth

Wait... most of the energy of going into orbit is in accelerating to orbital speed (lateral), not getting away from earth (vertical). That's true for Low Earth Orbit, but as the radius of a circular orbit increases the kinetic energy decreases and the potential energy increases. On the surface of the Earth, we have: -(398600 km^3/s^2 [1]) / (6378 km [2])) = -62.5 km^2/s^2 of potential energy (0.465 km/s [3])^2/2 = 0.1 km^2/s^2 of kinetic energy At LEO, we have: -(398600 km^3/s^2 [1]) / (6678 km [4])) = -59.7 km^2/s^2 of potential energy (7.8 km/s [5])^2/2 = 30.4 km^2/s^2 of kinetic energy At GEO, we have: -(398600 km^3/s^2 [1]) / (42164 km [6])) = -9.5 km^2/s^2 of potential energy (3.07 km/s [7])^2/2 = 4.7 km^2/s^2 of kinetic energy Notice how LEO has only 2.8 km^2/s^2 of additional potential energy compared to the surface, but 30.3 km^2/s^2 of additional kinetic energy. However, at GEO there is 53 km^2/s^2 additional potential energy compared to the surface and only 4.6 km^2/s^2 additional kinetic energy. [1] Earth's gravitational parameter [2] Earth's equatorial radius [3] Earth's equatorial rotation speed [4] A 300 km altitude orbit [5] Velocity at LEO [6] GEO radius [7] Velocity at GEO