[Newsbot]

Title: Fort Churchill may become rocket launch site‎
Category: Misc CDN
Posted By: tritium
Date: 2010-03-28 12:22:50
Canadian

[tritium]

Canada's Cape Canaveral, just alot colder.

[Canadian_Mind]

I thought you wanted to be as close to the equator as possible to take advantage of the velocity gained from the planets rotation... not exactly taking advantage of that at 57 degrees lattitude.

[Hyack]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

I thought you wanted to be as close to the equator as possible to take advantage of the velocity gained from the planets rotation... not exactly taking advantage of that at 57 degrees lattitude.

It is better to launch rockets closer to the equator because the Earth rotates at a greater speed here than that at either pole. This extra speed at the equator means a rocket needs less thrust (and therefore less fuel) to launch into orbit. This speed bonus also explains why rockets are launched towards the east. Since Earth rotates west to east, launching an orbital satellite in that direction maximizes the effect of the rotational speed bonus. The only rockets for which this is not true are those going into polar orbit which launch towards the west. So, if they are going to use these sites for Polar launches it could make sense.

[Canadian_Mind]

Ah, ok. So in reality, for most of our intents and purposes; the further north you are, the better?

[PJB]

It's strange that Churchill had a rocket launch centre for years. The government closed it and now...Wow.


http://www.spacetoday.org/Rockets/Space ... anada.html