ideal spaceport

The main launch types

Suborbital

Polar Orbit

Prograde and Retrograde orbits

Interplanetary

Suborbital flights mainly require range safety

Polar Orbits can benefit from a launch sites away from the equator to reduce any equatorial spin out of the satellite.

Most other launches will benefit from the spin of the earth so the nearer the equator the less fuel required but this is not essential. (apart from Retrograde launches against the spin of the earth)

Advantage of the Earth’s west-to-east spin

The closer to the equator you can get, the greater the speed boost you receive. This reduces the amount of energy required to get into space and means that less fuel is required.

At the North or South pole the speed at which you are moving, relative to a stationary observer not on Earth, is zero. As you move closer to the equator this speed increases, until at the equator you are travelling at a speed of 465 metres per second (1040 mph)

Note for Interplanetary launches the speed and the earth position around the sun is very important

Earth goes around the sun at a brisk 107,000 kilometers per hour (66,000 miles per hour)! If our interplanetary spacecraft is aimed in the same direction Earth is already going, it will get a big head start.