• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’ January 23, 2023
Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom January 23, 2023
IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia January 23, 2023
BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels January 17, 2023
Next
Prev

As Space Tourism Dawns, Analysts Ask Who Pays the Real Cost

July 13, 2021
Reading time: 2 minutes

Jarle Naustvik/Flickr

Jarle Naustvik/Flickr

1
SHARES
 

As the race to create a “space tourism” industry accelerates, observers are raising questions about the environmental and social fallout in a world where the uber-rich junket back and forth through a fragile, and quickly overheating atmosphere.

On July 20, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos—net worth: US$200 billion—is scheduled to fly to the very edge of space, some 100 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, in his hydrogen-powered Blue Origin rocket ship, reports E&E News.  

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

Bezos will be flying hard on the heels of fellow billionaire Richard Branson, founder and owner of Virgin Galactic Holdings, who participated in a similar suborbital jaunt July 11. Branson has already secured some US$80 million in reservations for future flights aboard his SpaceShipTwo rocket-plane. 

By Branson’s estimate, each of those round trip flights will generate about the same emissions as a commercial round trip between London and Singapore. Yet, writes E&E News, space tourism supporters like top NASA climate advisor Gavin Schmidt seem so far unconcerned. 

“Currently, and for the near-term, foreseeable future, it’s not a global problem that NASA would necessarily concern itself with,” Schmidt said. “While it obviously isn’t particularly helpful, it isn’t going to make a difference to whether we make our Paris [Agreement] goals or not.”

Meanwhile, there is plenty of motivation for investors to put aside any climate concerns. Citing Swiss investment bank UBS, E&E says the space tourism industry is current valued at more than $244 billion—a figure that could “more than triple” by 2030. In 2019, NASA announced its own plans to create a thriving space economy in order to fund “future scientific missions back to the moon and onto Mars.” And the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is busy at “streamlining regulations to make commercial flights easier,” potentially enabling companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic to avoid new emissions standards.

Such efforts unsettle researchers like Eloise Marais, an associate professor of physical geography at University College London, who told CTV News she worries about the expansion of space flight going ahead without comprehensive research into the environmental impacts. The fuel used by Branson’s rocket, for example, is known to damage the atmosphere.

“Solid rocket fuel is really the worst,” she said. “They produce a lot of chlorine, a lot of nitrogen oxides, and those are quite efficient at depleting ozone.” CTV says other studies have red-flagged the threat posed by the heat-trapping soot particles expelled from rockets into the upper atmosphere.

And then there is the question of environmental justice. Asked how he felt about making space a playground for the ultra-wealthy, leaving the rest of the world to deal with the environmental consequences, NASA’s Schmidt said that while “equity issues” are “of course” involved, those are for lawmakers and regulators to resolve.



in Air & Marine, Climate & Society, Culture, Demand & Distribution, Ending Emissions, International, Jurisdictions, Travel, Leisure & Recreation

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

United Nations
Air & Marine

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
12
RL0919/wikimedia commons
Finance & Investment

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.1k
@tongbingxue/Twitter
Ending Emissions

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
268

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.1k
@tongbingxue/Twitter

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
268
Rachel Notley/Facebook

Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom

January 23, 2023
254
James Vincent Wardhaugh/flickr

Canada Sidelines Ontario’s Ring of Fire, Approves Separate Mining Project

December 4, 2022
379
Weirton, WV by Jon Dawson/flickr

IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia

January 23, 2023
493
United Nations

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
12

Recent Posts

EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
188
Sergio Boscaino/flickr

Dubai Mulls Quitting C40 Cities Over ‘Costly’ Climate Target

January 24, 2023
84
hangela/pixabay

New UK Coal Mine Faces Two Legal Challenges

January 24, 2023
43

Gas Stoves Enter U.S. Climate Culture War, Become ‘Bellwether’ for Industry

January 22, 2023
73
Jeff Hitchcock/flickr.

BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels

January 23, 2023
494

Exxon Had the Right Global Warming Numbers Through Decades of Denial: Study

January 17, 2023
223
Next Post
/Liebreich Associates

Fossils Tout ‘Uncompetitive’ Hydrogen Cars to Delay Decarbonization, Liebreich Says

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}