Xref: utzoo sci.space:4531 sci.space.shuttle:535
Path: utzoo!linus!husc6!hao!boulder!huntting
From: huntting@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Bradley Enoch Huntting)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Choice of launch sites for geosync. satalites
Keywords: Why use anywhere > 5 or 10 deg from the equator?
Message-ID: <1505@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: 8 Feb 88 23:12:55 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 32

It occured to me the other day that when satalites launched from within the
U.S., they are put into a transfer orbit which is inclined about 20 deg from
the plane of the equator.  This means that the net change in velocity nessary
to place the payload into geosyncronous orbit (sum of the instantainious
acceleration nessary to attain transfer orbit (~10.1 km/s) plus the
instantainious acceleration nessary to bump the object from transfer to
geosyncronous orbit (~1.45 km/s if launched from the equator, or ~4.39km/s
if launched from 20 deg latitude) is higher by ~3km/s!  That's a 26% increse!
Add to this the fact that the mass of the delivery system increases with the
net velocity change.

Now it seems to me that lightening the workload by 20% would significantly
decreace the cost of delivery!  So why doesn't anyone launch from the equator?

The climate in the south pacific or indian ocean is comparable to that of
the cape.  There are several Indoneasian islands near Syngapore which could be
used.  

I understand that a government might have reservations about investing the
nessary capitol for a launch facility in a forign countryr.  However a private
enterprise would be able to deliver satelites for a significant discount
over what NASA could.  Esspecially once one considers that near Syngapore 
there is a well educated workforce which one doesn't have to pay in $!

So what I'm asking is:  why hasn't someone with money thought of this?
			And if they have,  what success have they had?

	-brad e huntting
						huntting@boulder.colorado.edu
						     ...!hao!boulder!huntting
please excuse the spelling.
Hope I don't sound to neo-colonialist.