Why are Space Rockets Launched Eastward?

Around the equator is the best place to build an efficient space transportation system. Rockets can’t be launched when they’re far away from the equator. This means that the satellite weight has to be cut down. Currently, India has a rocket launch site in Sriharikota, called the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. There are already two launchers – GSLV and PSLV, at a latitude of 13.72 N and a longitude of 80.23 E in India. We launch our satellites for communication, remote sensing, and scientific missions. Communication satellites that are launched go in two different directions: with the GSLV, they go east, and with the PSLV, they go south. 

Reasons Why Most Rockets are Launched From the East Coast of a Country

People who want to launch a rocket from the east coast should think about the earth’s rotation speed. As a side note, these rockets travel eastward, so if something goes wrong during their ascent, the debris will fall into the ocean’s water, far away from many people.

Factors Crucial for Selecting a Rocket Launch Site

Many factors must be considered when choosing the best place to launch spacecraft. A top priority for space engineers and scientists is to make sure that the satellite in question gets as much natural “push” during its rise to the surface as possible.

Impact on Satellites due to Revolution 

There are 108,000 km/h around the sun. Our planet moves around the sun at that speed, too. The earth, in particular, moves around the sun at a speed of 67,109 mph. The rocket gets off to a good start if it goes in the same direction as the planet moves.

Benefits of Earth’s Rotation for Rocket Launch

The movement of our planet is also rotational, which means that it keeps turning on its axis. 

You know that the earth moves from west to east, and a rocket should move eastward. To get the most out of the earth’s rotation, you should establish your projectile where the earth moves the fastest and pick a place where the rotation speed from west to east is maximum.

In this context, the ideal place would be near the equator as the surface of the earth travels faster there. Look at where most of the rockets are launched globally and think about how quickly the earth turns. Most launch sites are near the equator. The extra boost given to rockets launched near the equator helps save money by not having to put in more fuel and boosters.

Setting up a Launch Site 

It takes a lot of work to make rockets that weigh a few hundred thousand pounds. During the launch, many things could go wrong. Scientists and space engineers have to think of the possible things that could go wrong, to make rocket launches as safe as possible. The most dangerous of it all is when something goes wrong with the missile while still in the air. This could have a significant impact (like burning debris falling out of the sky and landing over people’s homes) and needs to be taken care of first.

Check out the launch sites on the world map. You can see that many of them, like Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, which is the primary space centre in India, are near the coasts. This is the reason why. If a rocket doesn’t work out during the first part of its flight, there is still a risk of people getting hurt or killed.

The sea isn’t the only factor that plays a crucial role. There are other important factors as well. For example, it must be easily accessible from land, air, and sea. There are a lot of geopolitical rules about where these sites can be created.

Conclusion 

Suppose you’re trying to solve an astronautics problem, like finding the second and third cosmic velocities. In that case, you need to think about how much more kinetic energy the earth has when the spacecraft and the earth are moving in an inertial frame. This is because the power of gravitational pull from a spacecraft towards the earth isn’t tiny. When a spacecraft is launched into space, it changes the earth’s rotation. It is cheaper to launch the spaceship east because some of the earth’s rotational kinetic energy is used to move the spacecraft.