@phuzz
"most of the propellant* in a rocket launch goes towards accelerating the vehicle sideways, rather than into lifting it up.".
A bit about that claim.
Standing say on the equator, we move sideways at the speed of 40.000km/24h which is 1666 km/h and that is why it's more feasible to launch closer to the equator. The rocket goes straight up in relation to it self, shortest route through the atmosphere.
The only way for us to see it go straight up is if it was launched from one of the poles.
And meanwhile we run around the sun at 107.000 km/h which means that some, in my opinion, rather fantastic calculations are needed to take a short shot to Mars, and still that mathematics is old stuff.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
