Q&A Kea Aerospace
Melissa Thorpe, CEO of Spaceport Cornwall
Bringing space down to Earth – How the UK is nurturing the green space revolution As the global space industry begins to truly flourish, it is beginning to attract the attention of environmental activists, who are understandably concerned about the cost the planet pays for our satellites and spacecraft. With the proverbial rulebook on space business waiting to be written, we find ourselves at a pivotal juncture, with the opportunity to normalize sustainable practice in space before we start making mistakes. The UK has been a haven of this “green space” narrative and has the potential to disrupt the unsustainable markets we see influencing budding space economies. Laurence Russell, Associate Editor, Satellite Evolution Group
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espite its relative size, the space industry has not been exempted from contemporary debates around retooling our economy to work in harmony with our environment. The average SpaceX Falcon 9 launch uses 29,600 gallons of Kerosine fuel, which releases 336,552Kg of CO2 into our planet’s atmosphere, a popular equivalent of which would be flying 341 people from London to New York. While the comparative carbon cost of kerosine flights can be argued to be a drop in the ocean next to the work of the commercial aviation industry in a single day, noxious fuels are more sinister. Eurostat calls methane 25 times more harmful than simple CO2 and nitrous oxide 298 times worse for Global Warming Potential (GWP). With two to three space launches currently occurring 36
every day, it’s easy to see how these impacts could represent significant harm as the space economy rapidly scales up in the coming decades, making it one of the biggest climate risks at a time when we can’t afford to go on as we are. That is to say nothing of the carbon footprint associated with the manufacturing process of a space rocket, which dwarfs its launch footprint, given the energy-intensive requirements of aluminium and steel production and the transportation logistics that support it. Much of the innovation required to bring those footprints down needs to come from those sectors, though the space industry can also have a huge effect by prioritizing the development and launch of reusable craft, which can serve multiple missions after construction and needn’t be disposed of so haphazardly. Needless to say, the industry has a lot of work to do.
www.satellite-evolution.com | June 2022
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20/06/2022, 10:02
