shoot to space from antarctica or the north pole?

We know that the sun is in one direction from earth and the rest of the planets are on all sides of us, But do we know anything about whats straight down or up?
there may be something about this already or scientific findings but i guess I am not aware of this. Just a thought.

Any thoughts from anyone else?

First the Oort Cloud (comets) about a light year beyond Earth, then maybe five light years or so "down" or "up" to the nearest star.

I dont think the poles tells you anything about whats up or down, just that your heading north or south[and since they're shifting?]..On the globe we have a perception of up and down[just as our humanperception of the poles]maybe because of gravity, in space you cant really tell..
About shooting in to space, cause of the rotating earth shooting things in space is best done from the equator, the earth spins more over there, makes you oscillate better into space..

I think it would be a good idea to send secret missions from the poles since they are so difficult to reach and completely hostile environments to say the least. It only takes a couple minutes to get to space with the right equipment so a nice secret base in the middle of nowhere would be ideal. I always wondered where the best places would be and I think you hit right on the nail. Of course, i'm just conjecturing.

Nah, it's stupid to launch anything from the poles. It would be really tough to get heavy space-launch equipment there...plus the inclement weather would tear up the equipment and would probably prevent a launch on most days.

What, Uber, you wouldn't want to ride with Admiral Byrd on that giant truck thing with the plane on it and eat MRE's in Antartica?! You're no daisy, you're no daisy at all!

We don't need to launch from the poles in order to get a probe to travel "up" or "down". We can launch from Florida and, once it's orbit, send it on in any direction we choose.

If you spin a ball, the outer edges of the ball move alot faster per rotation that the ends ( Poles ) so to get a slingshot boost you would launch ideally from the equator.

Okay then I see the ideal place for our uber secret space port. Chile! There I hope this is to your satisfaction and spec requirements fulfilled properly.

My vote for secret spaceport launch areas would be Woomera, Australia (30 degrees south latitude) and Melville Island, Australia (12 degrees south latitude).

I believe that NASA has been launching from Woomera since 1994 and Melville Island since around 2000.

Originally posted by johnlear
I believe that NASA has been launching from Woomera since 1994 and Melville Island since around 2000.

Really? Why would NASA launch from 30 degrees south in a foreign country when they already launch from Cape Canaveral at 29 degrees north? Why do you believe that?

And don't point to yer sig. You've changed it, so it's no longer yer disclaimer. **nudge nudge**



[edit on 9-8-2007 by Tuning Spork]

Originally posted by uberarcanist
Nah, it's stupid to launch anything from the poles. It would be really tough to get heavy space-launch equipment there...plus the inclement weather would tear up the equipment and would probably prevent a launch on most days.

Yea thats a valid point. Did they not blame the Challenger explosion on the temperature being to low?
All of the gaskets and O rings needed to seal the boosters etc.. would freeze and harden, plus the logistics of moving it from the hanger to the launch pad on that huge machine. That would be an enormous pain in the Snow and -40 degree temperatures.

Originally posted by Tuning Spork

Really?

Why would NASA launch from 30 degrees south in a foreign country when they already launch from Cape Canaveral at 29 degrees north? Why do you believe that?

You could always google "NASA Woomera" and extrapolate.

You should know that The U.S. owns Australia 'lock stock and barrel'. We have at least 20 bases there including 10 very secret bases: Pine Gap, Stonehenge, Laverton, Geraldton, East Sale, Woomera, Sherger, Nurrangar (recently closed, probably because of the noise), Point Wilson (near Geelong) and Exmouth Bay to name a few. Many major U.S. corporations have large adminstrative facilities there including I.B.M., Ford and General Motors.

For starters.

Originally posted by johnlear
You could always google "NASA Woomera".

Done. Touche, John. Never heard of it. I just assumed that it was evidence of yet another one of yer flakey posts. But you've obviously done some homework.

[edit on 9-8-2007 by Tuning Spork]

You should know that The U.S. owns Australia 'lock stock and barrel'. We have at least 20 bases there including 10 very secret bases: Pine Gap, Stonehenge, Laverton, Geraldton, East Sale, Woomera, Sherger, Nurrangar (recently closed, probably because of the noise), Point Wilson (near Geelong) and Exmouth Bay to name a few. Many major U.S. corporations have large adminstrative facilities there including I.B.M., Ford and General Motors.

For starters.

Remember though John that conglomerates like BHP Billiton, News Corp, Rio Tinto and Macquarie own a sizeable portion of US interest's as well so I think its more a cross national ownership thing to blur the nationalistic lines than Australia being owned by the USA.

Don't get me wrong I think Australia is pretty much owned by the Queen by stealth and the USA up front, but we are few ( 21 Million ) and the bases you mentioned are mostly closed now like Exmouth is a civilian area now.

Woomera is only used sparadocially for rocket testing and it can go years without use, it has often been touted as a good launch site but like anything in the southern hemisphere...we are byt peasants.

I just don't think the pole locations hold any kind of significant advantage for a trip to space. It's not like there is less gravity there, thus requiring less fuel to get a craft into space. As far as i know, high altitudes would be a better place for that.

Yeah, i think the poles, being a product of our Earth, really only have significance here on the planet in which they exist.

Originally posted by The Cyfre

I just don't think the pole locations hold any kind of significant advantage for a trip to space. It's not like there is less gravity there, thus requiring less fuel to get a craft into space.

Correct. The advantage of the operation at the South Pole is the secrecy it provides for the gravity shielding (formerly called anti-gravity) craft.

As far as i know, high altitudes would be a better place for that.

Actually high altitudes are not that much of a help. Its the proximity to the equator and the speed of the rotation of the earth at the equator (1041 MPH) which gives the rocket that extra desired boost. The farther north or south of the equator you launch from the less boost you get. Your next consideration is the area to the east of the launching pad and that there is nothing of any value for the rocket to fall on in case it explodes. And then comes accessability. When you call for pizza during a countdown hold you don't want to wait for the delivery guy to drive 1800 miles through the Amazon jungle just so you can launch on the equator.

I'm always amazed at how folk will question John's opinions as if he was just an average Joe . . . this is ATS, the place to discuss that which doesn't seem to make sense, right? A man doesn't have the accolades, the rich history John has unless he has been there and done that, there's no other way to get it. And, in the procession of that tenure, a lot of people with a lot of inside-type info are met, conversations are had. I ascribe perfection to no human being (self, especially!); yet, I -- for one -- am actually inclined to take Mr. Lear's comments far more seriously than most givers-of-opinion I encounter here, if for nothing else, further research into the matter.

Maybe I'm reading a lot of comments which sound like NASA regurge, but I thought everyone here was here because the widely distributed NASA propaganda, in many conspiratorially theoristic ways, had been found wanting . . .
Does it really matter where you launch a flying saucer from?
It doesn't on SG-1

That's like saying it's easier to drive a car at the equator than the south pole. Which is probably true, tho I've never been to either location.

OTC, you are new to this forum and are may not be aware that there is a lot of controversy swirling around JL, with many being of the opinion that he is deliberately spreading disinformation on the behalf of the government to discredit legitimate research.

He claims, for instance, that Venus is inhabited despite the fact that ground-based observations have detected lethal concentrations of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. He claims that no plane hit the Pentagon. There is widespread speculation with a lot of evidence to support it that he is Agent CONDOR, a disinfo agent working for the CIA. There are threads on all these subjects if you wish to see them.

Maybe he'll change my mind one of these days but so far I do not find him credible on most topics, an opinion shared by many (perhaps most) of my fellow ATS'ers.

Oh good grief. Did you just say, "agent CONDOR"?! Hold on for a second, uber, I think I just swallowed my Malted Milk Ball. Okay, you may proceed.