TOPIC : IS GROWING SPACE TOURISM POSING A RISK TO THE CLIMATE?

THE CONTEXT: Recently, in an article published in the journal, Earth’s Future, researchers from several universities found that the soot emissions from rocket launches are far more effective at warming the atmosphere compared to other sources.

In this article, we analyse the scope of Space tourism, its impact on climate and the ozone layer, and where India stands along with private players.

WHAT IS SPACE TOURISM

• Space tourism is the concept of tourists flying into space primarily for sheer enjoyment. In other words, space tourism can be defined as: “A vision of having an affordable space transportation system for as many people as possible going to space as space tourists”. A “space tourist” is a person who travels to and experiences space for adventure and recreation.

THE SPACE TOURISM INDUSTRY: PRESENT SCENARIO

• In the 20th century, the Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in an intense competition to attain complete domination of spaceflight technologies. Today, it is private companies that are taking part in their very own commercial space race, initiated with Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson’s journeys to space in July 2021.
• It is another niche segment of the aviation industry that seeks to give tourists the ability to become astronauts and experience space travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes. The aim is to make space more accessible to those people who are not astronauts and want to travel to space for non-scientific reasons.
• Less than a year after Bezos and Branson’s escapades, The New York Times reports that global space tourism has been thriving, with various companies offering bookings for zero-pressure balloon trips for short flights, astronaut boot camps and simulated zero-gravity flights.
• Entrepreneurs are hungry to seize unrealized profits, and a new space race, sometimes referred to as the “Private Space Race”, because it takes place primarily amongst private sector organizations and initiatives, has commenced. More highly publicized efforts to bravely pursue the space tourism industry include undertakings by well-known entrepreneurs such as Virgin Atlantic, Jeff Bezos-Blue Origin (CEO, Amazon), and Elon Musk (Space X).

WHAT IS THE NEW STUDY?

• Researchers from University College London (UCL), the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in their new study claim that the burgeoning space tourism industry can have a far bigger cost on the environment.
• From $350 million in 2019, the industry is forecasted to grow to more than $1 trillion by 2040. With companies like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and Blue Origin launching commercial space flights, space tourism has become, at least theoretically, a possibility for enthusiasts. Tickets remain tremendously expensive, however, with tickets for Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic beginning from a whopping $450,000. These were then incorporated into a 3D model to examine the possible impact on the climate and the protective stratospheric ozone layer.
• They calculated their findings by compiling an inventory of the chemicals from all the 109 rocket launches and re-entries into the Earth’s atmosphere in 2019.
• The number of rocket flights today is rather small when compared to the sheer size of the aircraft industry.
• While in 2020, there were only 114 orbital launches in the world, more than 100,000 flights travel each day, as reported by The Guardian.

WHAT CONSTITUTES THE ROCKET FUEL?

• There are actually two kinds of fuel used in rockets. The fuel can be divided into liquid fuel and solid fuel.
• With solid fuel, there must be both fuel and an oxidizer to make a solid-fuel rocket go. An oxidizer is a chemical that is needed to make the fuel burn. Since space has no atmosphere, rockets have to carry both their own fuel and their own oxidizers. The most common fuel in solid fuel rockets is aluminium.In order to make the aluminium burn, these solid-fuel rockets use ammonium perchlorate as the oxidizer, or to make the aluminium burn. In order to work together, the aluminium and the ammonium perchlorate are held together by another compound called a binder. When mixed all together, the fuel has a slightly rubbery consistency. This rubbery substance is then packaged into a casing. As the fuel burns, the heat and energy cause the inside of the rocket to heat up. Water vapours and gasses then shoot out of the rocket, causing the rocket to be thrust, or pushed, upwards into the sky.
• The main engines are more likely to be propelled by liquid fuel. Liquid fuel engines are composed of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The liquid hydrogen is the fuel and the liquid oxygen is the oxidizer. These, the oxidizer helps the fuel burn. The hydrogen needs to be in liquid form, not gas form, in order to have a smaller tank on the rocket. Gasses are lightweight, so it would take a larger tank to hold hydrogen gas than it would be to hold liquid hydrogen. The liquid hydrogen and oxygen are released into an engine where they begin to combine to make water. Just like solid fuel, water vapour creates energy and steam. The steam is released to make the rocket go upwards.
• To get a rocket from the ground into space, rockets need both solid fuel and liquid fuel.

 THE GREEN FACTOR:

• Unlike other sources of pollution, the study finds that environmental damage caused by rockets is far greater, as they emit gaseous and solid chemicals directly into the upper atmosphere.
• Space tourism’s current growth trends also indicate a potential for the depletion of the ozone layer above the Arctic. This is because the pollutants from rocket fuel and heating caused by spacecraft returning to Earth, along with the debris caused by the flights are especially harmful to the ozone layer.
• What is of great concern is the black carbon(BC) soot that is emitted by rockets directly into the atmosphere. These soot particles have a far larger impact on the climate than all other sources of soot combined, as BC particles are almost 500 times more efficient at retaining heat.
• The low figure of rocket launches, compared to the large-scale air pollutant emissions caused by the massive aircraft industry, is at times invoked to downplay the environmental damage caused by rockets.
• “Soot particles from rocket launches have a much larger climate effect than aircraft and other Earth-bound sources, so there doesn’t need to be as many rocket launches as international flights to have a similar impact. What we really need now is a discussion amongst experts on the best strategy for regulating this rapidly growing industry”.
• The team of researchers showed that within only 3 years of additional space tourism launches, the rate of warming due to the released soot would more than double.
• This is because of the use of kerosene by SpaceX launches and hybrid synthetic rubber fuels by Virgin Galactic.

Undermining Montreal Protocol

• While the loss of ozone from current rocket launches is “small”, the researchers argue that in the likelihood of weekly or daily space tourism rocket launches, the recovery of the ozone layer caused by the Montreal Protocol could be undermined.
• “The only part of the atmosphere showing strong ozone recovery post-Montreal Protocol is the upper stratosphere, and that is exactly where the impact of rocket emissions will hit hardest. We weren’t expecting to see ozone changes of this magnitude, threatening the progress of ozone recovery”.

THE PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE:

What is the Montreal Protocol?

• It is officially known as the Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer treaty.
• It was signed on Sept. 16, 1987, in Montreal by 25 nations; 197 nations are now parties to the accord.
• It sets a limit on the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), halons, and other related substances that release chlorine or bromine to the ozone layer of the atmosphere.
• The ozone-depleting potential, or ODP, of any substance, is measured concerning an equal mass of CCl3F, or CFC-11, which is assigned a value of 1.0. Most other CFCs have ODPs that range from about 0.5 to about 1.3.
• It is essential to know that hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which are being used as transitional replacements for CFCs in refrigeration, have ODPs that are generally less than 0.5. Also, hydrofluorocarbons, which are also replacing CFCs as refrigerants, have ODPs of zero. The concern is that they are greenhouse gases.
• India, a Party to the Montreal Protocol since June 1992, has been successfully implementing the Montreal Protocol

 ADVANTAGES OF SPACE TOURISM

• Boost the economy: Space tourism will increase commercial activity in the time of the poor state of the world economy.
• Generate Employment: Space tourism will give employment to thousands of people. Manufacturing new and better spacecraft will give employment to many skilled people.
• Draw Investors: It will renew interest in space exploration. This will draw more investors for more financial backing to support more innovations in the industry.
• Technological advancement: With more competition from private sector participation and technological advancement, there is a possibility in future that identify any potential hazards or threats that pose dangerous to our planet.
• New resources exploration: It also, helps to find new minerals and other precious materials in space and other planets.

DISADVANTAGES OF SPACE TOURISM

• Exposure to Sun’s Radiation: Space travel technology at the nascent stage can make entering space a dangerous venture. Space travellers are likely to get exposed to harmful radiation from the sun.
• Health: Spending long hours in zero gravity conditions can be dangerous for the person’s cardiovascular and musculoskeletal system. If people accidentally get exposed to high-energy ionizing cosmic rays, it may lead to cancer.
• Exposure to harmful organisms: We may unwittingly introduce some harmful microorganisms from space into the atmosphere of Earth.
• Poor Regulation: Lack of proper regulation and inadequate safety protocols can make space travel extremely dangerous.
• Commercialization: Companies engaged in this form of travel may fail to stick to safety measures in a spree to gather more customers.
• Waste of Resources: Experimentation and unsuccessful ventures may cause an unnecessary waste of resources.

Developing space programs and spacecraft need a lot of money. That money can be utilized for the alleviation of poverty.

• Inequity: Space tourism is meant for the super-rich only. For example, a single 2 ½ hour flight ticket in Virgin Galactic’s upcoming spaceship costs $ 250,000.
• Not environment friendly: Several natural resources are wasted in flying the fuel-guzzling rockets. It pollutes the atmosphere as well. Thus, the space program is harmful to our environment.
• Not a panacea: It is great to imagine people walking on the surface of Mars. It would not be wise to consider that escape to space will help in escaping the problems of earth. There is nowhere in the solar system where we can find the environment as congenial as that available on earth.

 WHERE INDIA STANDS AT SPACE TOURISM?

• ISRO is centrally funded, and its annual budget is between Rs 14-15,000 crore and most of this is used in building rockets and satellites, these drops in the ocean. The size of the space economy in India is small.
• To increase the scale of the sector, it is imperative for private players to enter the market. There have always been private players in the sector, but this has been entirely in the manufacture of parts and sub-systems.
• This can in turn really boost defence systems and manufacturing. ISRO began the process and BHEL will form a consortium of various companies to manufacture a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV rocket) and ISRO will fund the first vehicle, which will be for training purposes.

 THE WAY FORWARD:

At this point in time, it is still too early to paint a comprehensive picture of the state of space tourism in India. In practice, any effort to put together a business plan for the conduct of space tourism in India will be faced with a variety of roadblocks

• Strong legislation for Space Tourism: For the purpose of initiating of space tourism in India, a law is required. The law would deal with several subjects’ viz. compulsory registration of spacecraft, nationality, marking, the fitness of spacecraft, airworthiness/space worthiness, medical standards, licensing of space crew and safety precaution for launching etc.
• Availability of Appropriate Space Vehicles: By definition, a vehicle that can be used in the conduct of space tourism is one that can safely transport passengers to an altitude higher than 100 km above the surface of the Earth. This is believed to be the altitude at which space begins, meaning that the passengers can experience weightlessness. Currently, the global space tourism industry is at the preliminary stage of developing different kinds of vehicles capable of transporting human passengers into sub-orbit.
• Estimating the Cost of Suborbital Flights and Financial Planning: The design, development, testing, evaluation and production of five spaceships and two mother ships is estimated to cost around USD 350 million (Coppinger Rob, 2009) Virgin Galactic has signed a production agreement with Mojave Aerospace Ventures to use the Mojave spaceport for twenty years at a total cost of USD 27.5 million (Space Future Consulting, 2008).

THE CONCLUSION: It has been seen that there is a presence of demand for space tourism all over the world. Once space tourism does become mainstream, it will also positively impact many socioeconomic factors on Earth: creating jobs, educating citizens about space and fostering a new solar-based energy infrastructure. The sweet escape to the stars can eventually awaken us to the awe-inspiring potential of space exploration while also giving us a better appreciation of home. As for as India is concerned, the need of the hour in connection to space tourism is to enact appropriate national space laws and regulations which encourage and assist this new industry. Particularly, to attract private investments into the sector, the government should provide tax benefits and subsidies for research and development at least during the initial stages.  The growth of space tourism would enable to generate employment and also enhance India‟s global credibility as a high-tech, fast-developing nation in the long run.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

1. What do you mean by Space tourism?Is growing space tourism posing a risk to the climate?

1. Discuss the Environmental challenges involved in the rocket launches and space debris.