Rise in space tourism, rocket launches poses new threat to ozone layer, researchers warn - FRANCE 24 English

The “billionaire space race” – led by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX – is pushing satellite and space tourism initiatives that “suggest an upwards trend in global launch totals”, the researchers wrote.

This rare success story has been touted as an example for other environmental progress.

By contrast, there is no obvious clean replacement for rocket fuels currently in use and little impetus to regulate a small – but rapidly expanding ­– sector, even though there are pressing environmental concerns to consider.

As the space industry grows, researchers in New Zealand are calling for coordinated global action to measure emissions from launch vehicles and share data to build a picture of the environmental risk rocket launches may pose.

They also suggest that effects on ozone should be incorporated into industry best-practices for rocket design and development.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida on, Monday, February 6, 2022© Craig Bailey, AP