[FPSPACE] More details on Wenchang launch site.

[Keith Gottschalk]

I've now found the locality on my Times Atlas of the World, the biggest
world atlas in my collection. 
I now see that in fact Wenchang IS on a coastline running north-east to
south-west, so it is OK for launches to any orbital plane.  On this
coast, it is the place closest to the island's capital and harbour. My
atlas indicates a new road is being built linking the two.

    This coastal launch site will come as good news to farming families
living down-range from the existing space launch sites. Only the one in
Inner Mongolia is really surrounded by sparcely-inhabited semi-desert,
with little other than grazing Bactrian camels.  - Keith

>>>> Allen Thomson <thomsona at flash.net> 11/20/07 6:39 PM >>>
>
>--- Keith Gottschalk <kgottschalk at uwc.ac.za> wrote:
>
>> The only puzzling feature is that these places appear to be on the
>> north-east coast of Hainan, while the south-east coast would surely
>> be the best place for launches into both equatoral & polar orbital
>> planes.
>
>A more detailed analysis would be needed, but the cape where the
launch
>site is located looks to me to be sufficiently far to the east that a
>polar launch would just clear the Vietnamese coast. And of course,
due
>east is whatever that strait between Taiwan and Luzon is called. 
>_______________________________________________

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