Climate Butchery by Heavy Space Rockets
Environmental Degradation and Climatic Factors
Planet Earth is at the brink of becoming nonlivable for the most living being. Rising temperature, shrinking ice covers, rising sea, disappearing vulnerable flora & fauna, raging wildfires, unprecedented cloud bursts causing enormous floods and numerous other adverse events happening every now and then, are pointer to it. Planet Earth is facing multi-level challenges mostly caused by human activities but some are natural too, beyond one’s controls. The resultant pollutants create varied problems mentioned elsewhere but the greenhouse effects of the surrounding atmospheric blanket in the Troposphere is mostly absorbed/moderated by nature through the ‘weather’ phenomena and the green cover of the planet. while most of the obnoxious gasses are brought back to Earth’s crust and oceans through climatic effects, winds & rains, green cover takes care of the Carbon Dioxide-Oxygen regeneration cycle elaborated elsewhere. This substantially reduces the greenhouse gasses within troposphere. However, human indulgence in the Aerospace arena through high altitude flying aircraft and rockets (space launches & ballistic missiles) has been polluting the upper layers of the atmosphere (Stratosphere & Mesosphere) through exhaust gasses that is unable to enter moderation effects of the Troposphere owing mainly to reversal of temperature in Stratosphere, causing long-duration effects invisible to the most.
Invisible Greenhouse Effects of Aerospace Activities
Most of the Climate activists are either aloof of or partisan to climatic degradations caused by the spreads of the greenhouse gasses and particulates into Stratosphere/Mesosphere through the exhaust gasses of the Rockets, Ballistic Missiles, or high flying numerous commercial and military aircraft. They all cause loading of the upper atmosphere by the many greenhouse gasses created by the aircraft’s Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) or rocket propellants whether solid, liquid/cryogenic. Majority of the propellants used in the rockets & missiles include Solid (Hydroxy-Terminator Polybutadiene, HTPB), Liquid fuels of Petroleum, Cryogens or Hypergols; such as Refined Petroleum (RP-1)/Hydrazine (UDMH/MMH)/ Liquid Methane (CH4) or Liquid Hydrogen.
Practically most of the exhaust gasses created by burning of solid, liquid / cryogenic propellants, all add up to the greenhouse gas effects besides some damaging the Ozone layer too. These gasses include molecules of Hydrochloric acid (HCl), water vapour (H2O), Hydroxyl molecules (OH), carbon dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), alumina (Al2O3), black Carbon (BC), unburnt CH4, and Hydrazine (N2H4) etc posing long duration effects in the absence of the weather phenomena above Tropopause. These gasses continue absorbing part of the secondary infra-red radiations emitted by Earth thru’ its varied phenomena, thus causing greenhouse effects to our planet invisible to the most. Reversal of temperature in the Stratosphere doesn’t permit those gasses to descend to Troposphere, thus preventing them to enter weather cycle. Those gas molecules remain in Stratosphere and Mesosphere for long before slowly escaping to outer space. It continues posing greenhouse effects for years with cumulative effects continue due to increasingly aerospace activities. The loading of such pollutant gas molecules and particulates in the recent years and decades have multiplied many folds through increased rocketry, be it ballistic missiles or the space launches. The recent advanced heavy rockets for space applications are the matters of grave concerns to the Earth Scientists that pollute the upper atmosphere as well as ablate substantial part of it into the vacuum of space (read “Climate Change: Some Divergent Views”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/climate-change-some-divergent-views/).
Equally important is the burning of man-made space junks incl rockets, satellites, space stations and similar other objects incl space debris during its re-entry, leaving huge amounts of particulates and gasses of burn in upper atmosphere. No space venturing nation or activists are talking of it. No studies have been carried out as yet on its greenhouse impacts which is expected to be significant. No space agencies have catered for their rockets to decelerate enough so as not to burn during re-entry. UN must make law in this respect.
Greater Threats of Heavier Rockets
Heavier rockets use huge amounts of fuels and most part of their trajectories are in upper atmosphere, in both vertical and horizontal axes. In addition, self-destruction of the launcher dumps huge amounts of unburnt/burnt fuels that remain suspended in upper atmosphere for substantial period adding cumulatively to the greenhouse effects. Besides, they also ablate huge amounts of upper atmosphere into the vacuum of space during each launch. SpaceX carried out self-destruction of the largest rocket called ‘Starship’ both in April and Nov 2023 with hundreds of tons of fuel splashed, some unburnt too. These molecules of fuels/exhaust gasses will continue its greenhouse effects for our planet for years…BUT…the Climate activists are silent and mum. Even the world bodies like UN Climate & Planet forum remains silent because big players like SpaceX, NASA, Roscosmos, Chinese CNSA, ESA etc having large stakes in it. The so-called ‘Climate activists’ are smart lots, manifesting duplicity in their approach and action. They never protest the larger rockets greatly polluting upper atmosphere. As long as the rocket launch to space were exclusively for S&T purpose, it was limited to a few in a year. However, today Falcon-9 rockets of SpaceX, Long March of China and Soyuz/Proton of Russia…all having enormous payload carrying capacities, carry huge amounts of propellants emitting huge amounts of greenhouse exhaust gasses.
There was a time in past when rockets used to be launched very rarely mostly by US & USSR. In recent years and decades rockets launches have increased to several hundred by several nations that can no longer be ignored. Further, rocket like ‘Starship’ consumes fuel emitting exhaust gasses almost 5-times the Falcon 9. The recent blowing up of two Starship flights of SpaceX spilled huge amount of fuel and fire in the upper atmosphere that merits investigation by the UN environmentalists for the extent of damages esp pertaining to greenhouse effects. It is believed that env damage could be immense. Over and above the rockets/missiles, high altitude commercial aircrafts above Tropopause do immense damage to Climate by loading exhaust greenhouse gasses in Stratosphere and above seldom enter Troposphere owing mainly to the reversal of temperature in Stratosphere. As a result, tens of thousands of tons of greenhouse gasses are added to the upper atmosphere every year which has only been increasing in the recent years owing to increase in commercial aviation. Besides, thousands of tons of the precious Oxygen used to burn the propellants above stratosphere can never enter recycling process of oxygen/Carbon dioxide/weather cycles and are lost forever. Amidst the enhanced aviation and space activities the world bodies should not be taken by surprise if fall in atmospheric PPO2 is observed sometime later when it may be too late to reverse them. Surprisingly enough, climate activists have no concern for these potential catastrophes.
The Bottomline
Our planet, mother Earth has been long enduring the spoils we human beings are indulging upon. For long human development methods by developed nations ignored the basic principles of living in harmony with nature. The result is before us in the form of Climate Changes and Environmental adversities that may be reaching a stage of difficult return. While natural spoils by volcanos, are not in our hands greenhouse gasses and particulates being added up by human through aviation and space activities are inexcusable. It is time for the UN bodies to be firm against the spoilers without bias. It can’t remain mute spectator to events that may make the human species an extinct thru’ uninhabitable planet Earth.