There are only a few dozen sites on Earth that are optimal for rocket launches, and they’re either extremely remote, on the edge of an ocean, or both. There are several good reasons for this, which are all a side effect of the speeds needed to reach orbit — about 28,000 kilometers (17,500 miles) per hour to get Planet’s satellites into orbit 500 kilometers (310 miles) above the Earth’s surface. (That’s 80 times the top speed of a Formula 1 car!)

Reason One: A rocket launch is dangerous. To get off the ground and into orbit it takes a lot of fuel, and if that fuel goes BOOM (suddenly and unexpectedly), the fuel and assorted bits of rocket, rocket engine, and satellite can be scattered over a shockingly large area — especially if the explosion happens after the rocket gains some altitude.

The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard suffers a catastrophic anomaly moments after launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Reason Two: So much fuel is needed to reach orbit that it’s necessary to use multiple stages — dropping the extra mass of spent engines and empty fuel tanks along the way. Since it’s better not to do this on top of someone’s house (or worse yet, have another country find a somewhat intact rocket and steal the technology), all the territory underneath the rocket’s flight path should also be largely desolate or over an ocean.

Reason Three: A rocket launch is incredibly loud and disruptive — up to 200 decibels. That’s loud enough to damage nearby buildings, which need to be specially engineered to withstand the rumbling.

With that in mind, from Inner Mongolia to the Outback to Siberia to South America, Planet is pleased to take you on a tour of some of the special, middle-of-nowhere and/or beachfront properties that help to make space exploration possible.