What effects could the fuel of a rocket have on the environment? You may think it has a huge because you may be picturing lots of gas and fuel emitting into our environment when the rocket launches. You may know that we hear a lot about aircraft, cars, and factories polluting the earth rather than spacecraft. The reason being is because there’s a lot more of them.
The thing that I’m trying to raise awareness about is that spacecraft contribute very little to the ozone problem. A research by Martin Ross concludes that rocket launches are responsible for roughly 1% of the total ozone depletion. The spacecraft does add kilotons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere but compared to the amount hundreds of aircraft and factory’s that’s just a smidgen.There is a myth that the space shuttle punched a big hole in the ozone layer. This is not true, as Nasa studied their contribution. They found out that the space shuttle launch was responsible for 0.016% of the halocarbons released worldwide annually. I think many people would agree that the real causes of harmful gases in our solar system don’t have much to do with spacecraft and space exploration.
Rather, the harmful fossil fuels emitted by the industries are more to blame. Industrial pollution is one of the primary sources of environmental contemplation. Companies such as SpaceX, are aware of the pollution launches may cause, so they’ve decided to supply launches with entry to carbon. Their engines have been made efficient to minimise the effects of pollution. Recently, Environmentalists have been passing around comments about how space exploration is a waste of valuable time and money. They argue that we need to focus on our own world and its issues that we still need to solve, for example, poverty, hunger, and war and humans suffering around the world, why waste billions on space? Their point: “there are more problems on Earth that need fixing first”. As for my response on this, I think the suffering of mankind will continue in the hands of economy and politics even if we give up space exploration. Nevertheless, people don’t take into account that space exploration could be the revolution for mankind.
If we find a place out there that we can call home, then who says we can’t solve our Earth problems. We are in need of resources, and simply sitting at home until our resources have been completely demolished until last minute is too much of a risk. In another example, I’d like to point out that the only reason we have as much data on ongoing climate in our Earth is thanks to our spacecraft; satellites. We’ve launched hundreds over the years. By sending further technology into space, I believe we’ll be able to get more keys to solving our environmental issues on EarthIn conclusion, Space exploration should continue due to the little effect it has on our environment and the chances of us replenishing our resources.
I’ve provided an example of SpaceX dealing with the pollution issues of space launches which decreases the risk of affecting our environment (SpaceX wouldn’t be the only one).