By Tony Tran, Published by Off World, 18 November 2021 SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk made an eyebrow raising concession on Wednesday, implying that the first orbital Starship may very well explode on the launchpad. The prolific memethief spoke at the National Academies’ joint meeting of the Space Studies
By Emma Thorpe, Published by Orbital Today, 17 November 2021 The Scottish Government gave the go-ahead to the Sutherland Spaceport. The authority did this despite concerns that the new launch site could interfere with the precious peat bogs. The bogs are unique and contain excess amounts of carbon. New Launch
By Debra Werner, Published by SpaceNews, 9 November 2021 SAN FRANCISCO – Spaceport Cornwall is preparing to release a carbon impact report as part of its campaign to be “open and transparent” about the environmental impact of horizontal launches scheduled to begin next year, said Melissa Thorpe, Spaceport Cornwall head.
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
