When wanting to exit our solar system, do we have to always go outward from the sun in the direction of the other planets? Or can we simply travel “north”?

Question

When wanting to exit our solar system, do we have to always go outward from the sun in the direction of the other planets? Or can we simply travel “north”?

In: 332

Answer 1

We can, but its way harder to do.

We generally start rockets as close to the equator as possible and almost always fly east so the rocket carries as much momentum as possible.

If you were to fly north, earths rotation doesnt boost you. Fly west and youd even have to spend extra fuel/energy to cancel out your momentum.

Same thing applies in the solar system just in a larger scale.
Going ‘up’ or ‘down’ requires more energy than just going the direction earth is already moving in at 30 km/s