Airborne_Again wrote:
A toroid is the shape of a doughnut. I think the word you want is “spheroid”.
You’re right.. corrected… thanks.
EuroFlyer wrote:
Airborne_Again wrote: A toroid is the shape of a doughnut. I think the word you want is “spheroid”.You’re right.. corrected… thanks.
Looks more like lunch time comment than scientific truth 
I still don’t see how much 1000mph benefit you get from earth rotation compared to 16000mph on orbit, unless you include the wall of friction from air density at low altitudes?
For sure, you should not launch from equator if you are looking for polar orbits or if you want the thing to land back on your land
Might be worth noting that mass and weight are not the same item. a mass of 1kg is always 1kg (upto relatavisitc limits).
It has been some time since I did orbital mechanics but I think the main first order factors are the simple gravitational laws. I think a little can be gained by geographic positioning and launch direction depending on mission, but I do not think it is significant in the overall energy calculations.
