What’s going on here?
Last week private space company Blue Origin launched with an all-female crew onboard. The highly publicised trip took six famous women into space for merely eleven minutes, enough time to raise concerns about the trip’s environmental impact.
What does this mean?
Blue Origin claims that this voyage has zero carbon emissions- releasing only water vapour. However when emitted high up in the atmosphere, water vapour can contribute to global heating and to the depletion of the ozone layer. Anything combusting at high temperature also converts naturally occurring nitrogen gas in the air into nitrogen oxides – another potent greenhouse gas.
On the other hand, the rocket used in this voyage, called New Shephard, is fully reusable. This is much more sustainable compared to standard rockets which are single-use, reducing reliance on raw materials and mining.
Why should we care?
As well as being a huge greenhouse gas emitter, the space tourism industry is very inaccessible to most people. Tickets to last week’s Blue Origin trip required $150,000 for a deposit alone. In the midst of global political unrest, a climate catastrophe, and the cost of living crisis, it’s no surprise that an interstellar media stunt in a Trump-adjacent billionaire’s rocket hasn’t been too well received!
Portrayed as a win for feminism, the Blue Origin Trip is the first time an all-female crew has travelled into space since 1963. However, the trip has little to do with the professional wins of women in space exploration and research: a male-dominated field, and everything to do with being rich. Former NASA scientist and entrepreneur Aisha Bowe and Amanda Nguyễn, a civil rights activist and researcher were amongst those onboard the publicity stunt, but have received less attention in the shadow of Katy Perry.
Be Curious!
- Jeff Bezos has used his wealth to set up a $10 billion climate and environmental fund. Just this year however, the Bezos Earth Fund halted funding to the Science Based Targets initiative: a climate certification organisation, following a trend of billionaires and banks which are changing their priorities in line with Trump.
- The expansion of the commercial space industry has also been described as “space colonialism”. How can we explore space ethically?
- What is the environmental impact of your banking? Find out how you can green your bank.
Feature image credit: NASA via Unsplash
