Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket made history today (Sept. 5), becoming the first vehicle ever to reach orbit from European soil.

  • oce 🐆
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    14 hours ago

    I guess it should be read as “continental Europe”. Europe has a major launching platform in French Guiana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_Space_Centre

    P.S.: It’s advantageous to be close to the Equator like French Guiana to benefit from a faster rotational speed of Earth’s surface for the rocket launch.

    • Melchior@feddit.org
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      13 hours ago

      Not when you want to go into a polar orbit. That is flying over the earths poles and have the earth spin under the orbit. That allows satellites to take photos or use other sensors over every part of the planet. However to do that you need to have as little spin as possible hence being close to the poles is a good idea.