San Marco Launch site?
"For a launch site that can put payloads into orbit, the two most important considerations are a) large empty spaces for a great distance eastwards and b) as close to the equator as possible."
China!? anyone, I never heard them having problems with launching rockets over populated territory.![]()
Actually, China's main launch site is in Inner Mongolia. Which is pretty much like Baikonur/Tyuratam in terms of range safety.
Point taken on the San Marco (or Sea Launch) stuff, though. Assuming Japan won, there shouldn't be any problem with launching them from some mid-Pacific area, which is just about perfect: very close to Equator (directly on it, depending) and with a huge range safety area (big enough that you can deorbit whole space stations into the area safely!)