Hacker News Reader

Comment by mmooss | Hacker News Reader

Is NZ possibly the worst country to launch from (due to geography and geometry)?

Yes, I know you can launch from other locations, and my question is more of a curiosity.

It's certainly not the worst, since it has plenty of empty ocean to the east and west. A necessity for kind of safe launches. Of course a location closer to the equator would be nice, but it could be worse.

Just remember that the best place the EU came up with is in south America. Places like mainland Netherlands probably qualify for the worst places to launch orbital rockets from.

It depends on what orbit you want. Due to the latitude you'll end up pretty inclined by default - which is bad for equatorial orbits sure, but a good start for polar ones. At a public session I went to several years back they spoke of specifically trying to attract polar launches for that reason.

How is it a better start for polar orbits than any other launch site on Earth?

Not the OP, and not sure why its particularly suited for polar, but its a good location for these reasons:

1. Good atmospheric conditions. 2. Low air traffic. 3. Low/flexible/favourable regulations. 4. Good locations for ground infrastructure (in part because of 1. and also because everywhere is by the sea). 5. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, tertiary education geared to support the industry.

Also, and I don't know for sure this is a factor, but we have a number of specialised industries such as building large things from carbon composite (yachts) and radio communications for example.

I think option 3. is a big one. The govt. attitude is usually "give it a go", rather than a default "no".

Thanks. How big a factor is it that you aren't circling Earth's axis as quickly as most other places, and thus launches lose some boost? That's what I was wondering originally.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com