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Calculating Environmental Damage From Space Tourism Rockets
MithrandirAgain writes "A new study from several scientists at the Aerospace Corporation claims spaceships that rely on rubber-based fuel could help cause climate change. The fuel apparently expels a black carbon soot into the stratosphere when burned with nitrous oxide, which could be contributing to global climate changes, like shrinking the icecaps. However, the authors are careful about their work being an end-all study and are 'inviting others to take a look.' Virgin Galactic, whose SpaceShipTwo just made its first solo flight (and uses the type of fuel discussed in the study), is listening to the scientists' concerns. CEO George Whitesides said, 'I think we and others in the industry welcome the opportunity to talk about all of these issues.' SpaceShipTwo does use a hybrid engine 'because of its significantly lower environmental impact than other designs,' and Whitesides stresses, 'I think as we look at this more, we'll find the impact will be far smaller than that set out in the paper. In any case, I welcome the conversation.'"
For 1,000's of years mankind has dreamed of going into space and now that someone is setting up a business to take us there, the environmental wackos want to take it away.
Seriously, just about anything seriously fun is now illegal or politically incorrect.
I'd like to know how much pollution is generated by the unthinking environmentalists (as opposed to the thinking ones) and how far the environment can be saved if they simply didn't propagate.