By Emma Thorpe, Published by Orbital Today, 29 October 2021 The 21st-century Earth is choking on carbon emissions, and today’s rocket launch industry adds its share to this phenomenon. But how do rockets affect the environment? The more carbon accumulates in the atmosphere, the more it acts as thermal insulation
By Tereza Pultarova, Published by Space.com, 28 October 2021 If the environment was your priority, which rocket would you choose? When it comes to their environmental impacts, not all rocket fuels are equal. Which are the industry's 'dirty secrets' and which technologies might satisfy even Greta Thunberg? Here's a look
By Tereza Pultarova, Published by Space.com, 25 October 2021 Biofuels tested by two British rocket start-ups seem to produce much fewer dangerous soot particles. Rocket launches can inject huge amounts of soot into higher layers of Earth's atmosphere, depending on their fuel, possibly contributing to climate change. A pair of
By Jeff Foust, Published by Space News, 22 October 2021 WASHINGTON — SpaceX performed a static-fire test of a Starship vehicle Oct. 21 as debate continues about an environmental assessment of the company’s proposed launch operations in Texas. SpaceX performed two brief firings of a single Raptor engine mounted in
By Ethan Siegal, Published by Big Think, 21 October 2021 An unprecedented number of new satellites threatens the night sky as we know it. Will we act in time to save it? The era of satellite megaconstellations is just beginning, with over 1,000 launched since 2019 and tens of thousands
By Alexandra Marvar, Published by The Verge, 22 September 2021 Is the FAA licensing spaceports that are doomed to fail? The latest launch attempt out of Kodiak, Alaska’s spaceport shows in vivid detail just how quickly things can go sideways. In the video, rocket maker Astra’s 3.3 skids horizontally for
By Victoria Weldon, Published by The Herald, 14 September 2021 Plans for the construction of Scotland’s first spaceport have passed yet another legal hurdle after receiving permission from the Scottish Land Court. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) have been given the go-ahead to use land owned by crofters as part
By Steven McKenzie, BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands Reporter, Published by the BBC, 9 September 2021 Scotland's space industry says it wants to operate in an environmentally-friendly way. But with plans lodged for several space ports, bringing the prospect of more regular launches, can blasting rockets into space ever be
