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Space is subject to chokepoints, similar to terrestrial domains; there is an optimal path to achieve orbit, with any deviation adding to cost. Eastbound launch along the equator benefits from an imparted 1670 km/h velocity boost. Today GEO orbital slot allocations are managed by the International Telecommunications Union ITU, an organisation that precedes the United Nations. The value of equatorial launch can be seen from the 1976 Bogota Declaration, a statement signed in Colombia by eight equatorial countries: Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Congo, Zaire (renamed in 1997 to the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Uganda, Kenya, and Indonesia, claiming control of geosynchronous overflight orbital segment corresponding to their sovereign territory - a statement that was simply voted down by the United States and the Soviet Union as being contrary to the Outer Space Treaty, and thereafter abandoned. Denial can also arise in the form of economic embargoes of critical materials, such as space technologies, rocket propellant, or thermal control materials and coatings such as ceramic tiling and potassium silicates alongside specialised aluminium alloys, alongside diplomatic demarches and legal denials in foreign territory.
Another lesser known chokepoint is the ANTIPODAL ZONE AZ, which corresponds to the region on Earth exactly opposite the launch site / orbital insertion point (incorporating the rotation of the Earth during transit, the adjusted antipodal zone AAZ could be around 11 deg west of the AZ for LEO). After burnout and in the absence of further engine burn manoeuvres, an LEO satellite will follow an elliptical path in a fixed plane containing the centre of the Earth and the orbital insertion point (directly above the launch site), with this ellipse then passing through the adjusted antipodal region around 45 mins after launch, providing an ideal observation / interception point. For example, the antipode of the North Pole is the South Pole; the antipodal territory of most US launch sites such as Vandenberg Space Force Base is an area around the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, Reunion and the Chagos Islands, whereas the antipodal regions of both Baikonur Kazakhstan/Russia, Vostochny cosmodromes and China Wenchang (Hainan) Xichang (Sichuan) spaceports passes through Argentina and Chile; the ESA Kourou Guiana South American antipode is near Indonesia. Antipodal attack can similarly affect fractional orbit weapons (ie 0.5 to less than full orbit) though theatre missiles reaching target in less than half orbit would be immune, not reaching the antipode. The counter to fixed site launch antipode orbital strangulation could comprise of self-ferrying mobile launchers, including sea-launched or submarine launched satellites; there also exist orbital plane-change / manoeuvring satellites with strap-on upper stages, though at the cost of increased thruster weight / fuel, and reduced payload.
