Santa

why dont we send rockets north of the north pole or south of the south pole?

We seem to only send rockets for a lack of a better term east and west or outwards from the equator. What i would like to know is why we have not sent rockets south of the south pole or north of the north pole. If we have why don't we talk about it and or what did we find? Thanks.

Public Comments

1. we do, we just don't launch them that way to save fuel. after reaching orbit satellites are maneuvered over the poles.
2. There ain't nothin' over there. I would guess that it has to do with the Earth's rotation. The rocket gets its momentum and direction from moving in orbit around something. For example, the rockets that went up to the moon orbited around the moon a couple times and then broke out of orbit to head back towards Earth. The shuttles, when they are out on missions, usually hang in orbit around the Earth. Combine this with the fact that, when launching spacecraft, we use the Earth's rotation to aim our throw, and it would probably take a whole bunch of effort to launch a craft somewhere where we can't get it back.
3. To save money basically. The Earth rotates East to West, so if we launch a rocket West (after going straight up to avoid friction in the atmosphere), then the rocket automatically acquires the velocity of the Earth's rotation, relative to the Earth. So you don't need to spend money on fuel to get it going this fast. You need faster speeds to reach the Earth's escape velocity (velocity needed to escape the Earth's gravitational pull). We launch at the equator because local gravity is slightly less at the equator than at the poles. Less gravity means less opposing force. Less opposing force means the less fuel expenditure and this means we save money. A launch to the West at the equator is known as a Dawn Launch and is less costly than if we released one from the North of the North Pole and South of the South Pole. Though once in orbit, they can be controlled to go over the Poles.
4. Imagine the solar system, all planets or stars can be seen at night just within the area of the equator. If your at the north pole or south pole only one star polaris can be seen. Therefore, In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist or swing-by is the use of the relative movement and gravity of a planet or other celestial body to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft, typically in order to save fuel, time, and expense. Gravity assist can be used to decelerate or accelerate a spacecraft. The "assist" is provided by the motion (orbital angular momentum) of the planet as it pulls on the spacecraft.
5. I just told you.
6. We (humans) have sent a lot of rockets and satellites over the poles. They are in a "polar" orbit, which is good for viewing the entire Earth (not all at one time, it takes several orbits). US has seven NOAA satellites in polar orbit. Europe has the Metop-A satellite. Russia has the Meteor and RESURS series of satellites. China has FY-1D and FY-3A. India has polar orbiting satellites as well.