> 80% of the energy in a rocket goes to adding sideways motion. I have not resea... | Hacker News

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		metalliqaz on April 20, 2023 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Space Elevator > 80% of the energy in a rocket goes to adding sideways motion. I have not researched this at all, so I'm not doubting you, but doesn't most of the energy go into accelerating the remaining fuel? So, by the rocket equation, shouldn't you be way ahead of the game by starting at the edge of space?

jandrese on April 20, 2023 [–]

You still need to accelerate the fuel at that point. Free travel up to LEO doesn't buy you much.

There is an excellent What-if on this: https://web.archive.org/web/20230211050159/https://what-if.x...

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