Earlier last month, Feb. 6, 2018, the world watched transfixed as  SpaceX executes the maiden launch of the rocket, Falcon Heavy. 

It carried a dummy load,  a Tesla Roadster, with a mannequin (nicknamed Spaceman) strapped in the front seat. That officially makes it the first electric car in space.

But today we are not going to take about the Spaceman or the roadster as a lot had already been discussed on that. We would be looking at launch sites.

Can we launch space rockets from anywhere on earth or is there a particular consideration involved in choosing the location?

https://steemitimages.com/DQmXH7yck2aseydjwuSnxz142oKSsPPZVYAZX5ZgU2yQW2c/pexels-photo-586040.jpeg
<sup>Image Credits: [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-rocket-launch-pad-586040/)</sup>

What does [Pameungpeuk Beach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasiun_Peluncuran_Roket) in West Java, Indonesia, the city of [Alcântara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alc%C3%A2ntara_Launch_Center) located in the northern Atlantic coast state of Maranhão in Brazil, or the Merrit Island in the [Cape Canaveral](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Space_Center) north of Atlantic Ocean in the east coast of Florida in USA have in common?

You may have guessed the answer to be the sea. If you did, you are partially correct. But that is not the only thing they share in common. These three locations are rocket launch ports, and they are all close to the equator.


<div class="pull-right"><center><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmULdc9sNVLmXhkcKbijhnbbW21FJz369oqvnq27urxRAW/image.png" /><br/><em><sup><sup><a href="SOURCE LINK HERE">Wikipedia Creative Common Licenced CC-BY-SA-3.0-migrated by Cburnett: The Map of the World Showing the Equator with the Red Line</a></sup></sup></em></center></div>

The equator is the imaginary line drawn in the middle of the earth which divides it into two equal part with the top being the Northern hemisphere and the down the Southern Hemispheres


Some eleven countries lie smack in the middle of the equator, and they are: São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Indonesia, Ecuador, Colombia, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Brazil.

Some familiar things you may notice is that countries in and near the equator pass through the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Tomini, the Indian Ocean, etc.


NASA has been making use of the Cape Canaveral Facility in Florida for more than 60 years (since 1962).

But it has not come without hitches. The Florida weather, for instance, can be catastrophic especially regarding hurricanes and tropical storms. A case in point is the hurricane [Irma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Irma) in 2017 which was estimated to have killed 91 people and damaged up to [$65 billion](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hurricane-irma-corelogic/corelogic-estimates-hurricane-irma-property-damage-at-42-5-65-billion-idUSKCN1BU28T) worth of property.

In 1987, an [AC-67 rocket](https://sma.nasa.gov/docs/default-source/safety-messages/safetymessage-2007-03-01-lightningstrikemishap1987-vits.pdf?sfvrsn=6) got struck by lightening some seconds after the takeoff which made it explode.  

The Florida east coast has more than 150 rocket launches till date.

But as catastrophic as its weather seems, locations such as Florida that are near the equator is still the preferred choice for most rocket launches.

### Why is that so?

The short answer has to do with the area being near equator giving the rocket a natural "boost" leading to cost-saving due to less fuel required.

Now we move on to the long answer. Ready? Let's go!

Just like I mentioned in the short answer, the rocket scientists and engineers are obsessed with a location that will give a launched rocket as much push, naturally, as it can get during the first phase of flight.

To understand how the equator or locations near it plays a role we will delve a little into the rotation speed of the earth.

The earth turns on its axis; this rotation is what makes day and night. The rotation is in an anti-clockwise direction.

One full rotation is done in 23 hours, 46 minutes and 4.09053 seconds or approximately 24 hours. The circumference of the earth is about 40,075 kilometres.

Recall the speed of rotation= distance/time

= 40,075/ 24 ≈ 1670 km/hour

1600km/hr= 1670000m/hr
Coverting to meter per second, 1hour = 60x60 seconds= 3600s
or 1670000/(3600)= 463m/s  ≈ 460m/s


The speed at the equator is approximately 460 meters per second or 1000 miles per hour, mph.

<div class="pull-left"><center><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmVEXAv3cXukpg2aXozmkynBr11Lc1EaNvXC8nJg4oCjQc/Earth_tilt_animation.gif" /><br/><em><sup><sup><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earth_tilt_animation.gif">Wikipedia Image licenced under  CC-BY-SA-3.0 by Tfr000: Earth orbitting the Sun</a></sup></sup></em></center></div>

The speed of earth's rotation at the equator or "fat" part of the earth is highest and is 1000 mph. The speed becomes 0 mph at both the North or South Pole axis. You can see this [image](https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-3ed75fb4217b882d88a4822d1183549f.webp) that defines it.

You can directly observe this in a wheel of a spinning tire. You will notice the rim of the tire will travel a much longer distance compared to the hub for that same rotation. All the part completes a circle in the same time frame; the hub will hardly appear to travel while the rim of the wheel rapidly covers several feet in the same revolution. Note this mph (speed) should not be confused with rotation per minute (rpm) which by the way is not distance covered in time (speed) but rather the quantity of rotation in a time frame.

The same happens to the earth at the axis (North and South Pole) it moves slower compared to the "fat" end (equator) of the earth which has a faster speeds.


<div class="pull-right"><center><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmQe7R2Y8HLr5g6yc85s5u1S62SAX8gq9ejXhgN3XqjHJu/image.png" /><br/><em><sup><sup><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earth_rotation_tangential_speed.svg">Wikipedia Image Licenced CC-BY-SA-4.0 by cmglee, John Harvey et al: A Plot of Earth Tangential Speed to Latitude</a></sup></sup></em></center></div>



The blue-dash line is the tangential speed of the rocket launch port at Cape Canaveral in Florida which is about 408 meters per second. The green-dash line is the speed of a typical aeroplane at cruise speeds. Notice the tangential speed of Cape Canaveral at 408 m/s exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). The speed of sound is 343 m/s in dry air at 20 °C.


Since the rotation of the earth is from West to East (anti-clockwise) if you are a rocket scientist or engineer, which location would you chose to enjoy a natural boost from earth while launching a rocket?

Take into account that the South and North poles have virtually zero rotation speed.

Being a scientist that likes getting things done the easy way, I bet you would pick a location where the rotation speed from West to East is the strongest. If you did that, congratulations you are now a rocket scientist. Not as hard as they made us know, is it?

That explains why areas in the equator or near the equator is the go-to area for launch sites.

Another reason to launch near the equator is that of the intended use of the satellite. The orbit of choice determines where to launch from. For instance, a satellite where a zero inclination with respect to the equator is must, such as the communication satellites needed for our digital TVs, satellite communications, etc. will need to be launched on the equator. This is to forestall the complexity involved in correcting it in space plus the fuel that will be expended in the correction process.

<div class="pull-left"><center><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmRk46YuT5K6rWngDdKekb8VdKxJ8modijFnUGFRVmpZJN/image.png" /><br/><em><sup><sup><a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/OrbitsCatalog/">NASA’s Earth Observatory Free Image</a></sup></sup></em></center></div>

>Orbital inclination is the angle between the plane of an orbit and the equator. An orbital inclination of 0° is directly above the equator, 90° crosses right above the pole, and 180° orbits above the equator in the opposite direction of Earth’s spin. <sup> [NASA](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/OrbitsCatalog/)</sup>







<br>

#### Why are they often located near the ocean?

<br>

Well, forget about what I said about rocket science being easy. Rocket is a pretty complicated piece of equipment, and you never can tell what may go wrong when launching one.

This tense still [image](https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/02/12/11/elon-musk.png?w968h681) from a clip shows Elon Musk during Falcon Heavy launch in Feb this year. It tells of the intense moment during the rocket launch and the probability of things going wrong.

So if it goes wrong, what better place for debris to fall into than the ocean? Better that than when it crashes back into inhabited areas.

There is a decreased possibility of fatality in the event of a failed launch or rocket explosion due to errors in midair.

Other factors such as accessibility of location play a role too. The area of launch should be accessible quickly by air, sea and land. There are a lot of logistics that will be needed to be ferried to that point. 



<div class="pull-right"><center><img src="
https://steemitimages.com/DQmQui2seg4xJuDR3BamvE2DnNEo19K1JBXTBUYPhhQJTno/image.png" /><br/><em><sup><sup><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Operational_polar_satellites.jpg">Wikipedia Public Image: Polar orbitting satelines orbit</a></sup></sup></em></center></div>


There is always an exception to the rule. Some satellites such as the [polar orbiting satelites](http://tornado.sfsu.edu/geosciences/classes/m407_707/Monteverdi/Satellite/PolarOrbiter/Polar_Orbits.html) (POES) have no use for the natural boost given by the earth's rotation; due to the [direction](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Polar_orbit.ogv), they are headed to in the northern and southern axis of the earth. 

<hr>
<br>


<sup>**REFERENCES**</sup>
<sup>[NASA:Why does NASA launch rockets from Cape Canaveral, Florida?](https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/why-does-nasa-launch-rockets-from-cape-canaveral-florida/70000391)</sup>
<sup>[Wikipedia: Rocket Launch Sites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rocket_launch_sites)</sup>
<sup>[Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/OrbitsCatalog/)</sup>





<hr>

<sup>If you write STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related posts, consider joining #steemSTEM on discord [here](https://discord.gg/vwzWz3Z). If you are from Nigeria, you may want to include the #stemng tag in your post. You can visit this  [blog](https://steemit.com/@stemng) by @stemng for more details. You can also check this blog post by [@steemstem here](https://steemit.com/steemstem/@steemstem/being-a-member-of-the-steemstem-community) and this [guidelines](https://steemit.com/steemstem/@steemstem/helpful-guidelines-for-crafting-steemstem-content) here for help on how to be a member of @steemstem. Please also check this blog post from @steemstem on [proper use of images devoid of copyright issues here](https://steemit.com/steemstem/@steemstem/guidelines-on-copyright-standards-in-steemstem)</sup>


<center>https://steemitimages.com/DQmU7Xv1NnXmSE1MAYNN1eM6R5Xs2Cdtczp9DpaopmzopGE/rocket.gif</center>