Space Projects may impact environmental sustainability, says study

Space projects may impact environmental study according to a recent study. Space exploration is at its all time high right now with companies like NASA, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic putting in massive funds and a lot of time in order to further our knowledge about the vast unknown. This has led to environmentalists raising concerns about various issue like increasing amounts of carbon and other emissions, global warming, Hydrochloric Acid protection, etc. The questions relating to using sustainable methods during space exploration is becoming a rising concern.

“The mass of most rockets is 95% fuel; the bigger the rocket, the more fuel required for lift-off. While the 'liquid engines' in NASA's Space Launch System's (SLS) Core Stage use liquid oxygen and hydrogen, Space X's Falcon Heavy rockets utilize a kerosene based-fuel (RP-1).The fuel used in NASA's solid booster rockets consists mainly of aluminium powder and ammonium perchlorate,” said a study in regard to the observations by scientists regarding space travel.

NASA is coming up with waste management systems and other sustainable methods in order to counter the after effects of space travel. Alternative energy sources and their importance is also being looked into by the aerospace industry. Long term initiatives are a must in order to ensure that the environment is not adversely affected by space exploration programs.