Why do rockets launch in an arc, and not just go straight up?
In: 4
Low earth orbit require a speed of 7.4 km/s parallel to the surface of the earth. You can compare it to the required acceleration upward that would be equivalent to what is required to accelerate to a speed of 2km/s. So 80% of the required acceleration is parallel to the surface.
Part of the arch is earth curvature because at constant altitude moving around earth looks like an arch down from your perspective.
If the goal is to leave earth and to into an orbit around the sun where the goal could be another planet or something else you could just accelerate upwards. But most acceleration is to earth orbit and even if the goal is to leave earth going via an earth orbit is quite common because you do not lose energy doing it that way. You can gain control of exact
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