AROUND EARTH
The completed rocket would hold our satellite near the nose in a high energy upper stage of the rocket, comparable to the Centaur stage in the Titan missions. This stage has its own rocket engines and boosters, along with attitude control systems and mechanisms to eventually deploy the satellite on its own into an operational state. These upper stages can either take the satellite into geosynchronous orbit, or in our case, boost it to escape velocity and leave towards the outer planets.
The launch needs to take place ideally close to the equator to gain a small boost from the rotation of the earth on its vertical axis, making NASA’s Cape Canaveral station appealing for use. The launch path follows the rotation of the Earth, continuously spiraling outward from the surface as the 2nd and 3rd large boosting stages are fully exhausted in space, leaving only the top upper stage capsule containing the satellite traveling faster than the Earth’s escape velocity of 11,200m/s.
