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Would have made sense to build it closer to the equator? As from my orbits class the more you get closer to the equator, the bigger is your launches time-window
by enricobruschini 12y ago
Would have made sense to build it closer to the equator? As from my orbits class the more you get closer to the equator, the bigger is your launches time-window to hit the target orbit.
Texas sounds unreasonable, does anybody knows/sees other good reasons?
- rkuykendall-com 12y agoThey are almost as far south as they can be and still be in the United States, which is where the company is based.
- toomuchtodo 12y agoAs rkuykendall-com mentioned, its as far south in the US as you can get without overflying other land, and they've gotta stay in the US to prevent ITAR violations. [+] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_R...
- cjensen 12y agoWhy not Hawaii then? Would the rocket overfly the Americas at an appropriate height?
- aschampion 12y agoShipping rockets is enormously risky and expensive.
- Someone1234 12y agoI agree with it being expensive. I don't see how it would be risky, you wouldn't fuel the rockets before you shipped them, that would be bonkers.
- toomuchtodo 12y agoRockets have the structural integrity of a pop can.
- Someone1234 12y agoAnd yet pop cans travel halfway around the world daily... I don't see the issue. As I said, it could be expensive, but there's no risk or danger in it. People transport extremely fragile things by sea all the time. You may have to be mindful of weather, but it is do-able with the will and money.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago> And yet pop cans travel halfway around the world daily Empty pop cans? Several stories tall?
- waterlesscloud 12y agoHow many pop cans are damaged or destroyed in shipping? Any rate at all is higher than is tolerable for rockets costing many orders of magnitude more.
- raverbashing 12y ago> I don't see the issue REALLY?!?! Your pop can is not filled up with tons of explosive materials and didn't cost millions of dollars. The worse thing that can happen if your pop can is damaged is you get a flat soda or a leaky can.
- gdy 12y agoRussia ships Soyuz to Kuru for Arian. Apparently, it is worth the cost and there has been no failures.
- Crito 12y agoWhen they were starting out with Falcon 1 launch attempts, they were using Kwajalein Atoll. They had tons of problems with corrosion from sea-water in the air though. I imagine that might be a concern in Hawaii as well, depending on which islands were available. They'll still be near sea-water in Texas of course, but perhaps the wind tends to blow west to east, with the jetstream? I'm not sure.