SPACE TRAVEL DAMAGE

HIW,

Dear

Isn’t conducting space research coming at a huge cost to the environment? And shouldn’t people who unnecessarily go into space for pleasure be seen as environmental abusers?

Stephen

It’s no secret that space launches have a high carbon footprint due to the burning of rocket fuel. However, aerospace companies are working to make space exploration damage as minimal as possible through reusable rockets and liquid hydrogen fuel. The latter produces a less detrimental water vapour exhaust. Rocket engines also release gases into Earth’s upper atmosphere which can contribute to damage in the ozone layer. This being said, it’s worth remembering the many other contributing factors to environmental damage that occur every day. Launches for space exploration and tourism occur much less frequently than the 100,000 aeroplane flights which depart daily, with many of these carrying passengers who are travelling for pleasure.

A trip into space currently costs upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars