Although humanity achieves one of its most desirable goals – the beginning tourism Space – with business trips Season spatial International (ISS), this can leave an unpleasant aftertaste on Earth: pollution atmospheric.

According to Eloise Moret, a professor at the University of London, in a column on The Conversation website, private missions produce pollutants and gases, causing the effect studied in their launches. And while their impact may not be as significant as that of the global aviation industry, it will be another problem added to the climate crisis.

See also: Chinese astronauts return to Earth after 183 days in space

The first of many missions planned by NASA is called Axiom-1, was launched last Friday (15). In it, five men aged 52 to 71 paid about US$55 million for each ticket. The commander of Axiom 1 stated that this did not yet apply to space tourism, as biomedical research was also being carried out.

However, the environmental impact mentioned at the beginning of the text still exists. The rocket used for the mission has two levels, Morais said: a booster that contains most of the fuel (about four-fifths) and is returned to the ground for reuse, and a second disposable level.

To carry the spacecraft to the station, energy is obtained from the combustion reaction of kerosene and liquid oxygen, releasing environmentally harmful by-products such as greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide and water vapour.

When launched, a rocket releases these elements and other pollutants into more than one layer of the atmosphere. In medium and high, they can persist for years due to fewer chemical reactions in relation to the lower ones.

Side effects of flying need to be studied

Let’s take rockets for example. falconfrom company Elon musk Space Xthe kerosene fuel in these machines consists of a mixture of hydrocarbons that react with liquid oxygen to form the aforementioned gases, in addition to soot particles that effectively absorb the sun’s rays.

The emission of soot in this case is not as high as in the aviation industry, but it has a potentiated effect on the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Other pollutants such as nitric oxide (NOx) are also produced during startup due to high temperatures. Upon contact with the ozone layer in the stratosphere, its particles convert ozone into nitrogen, weakening it.

See also: NASA: Discover projects that could change the future of space travel

While highly desirable and a step forward for humanity, frequent space travel has side effects that need to be explored and addressed. Keeping them with the disadvantages mentioned in the text could change the Earth’s climate and make it harder for the ozone layer to recover.

Chinese astronauts return to Earth after 183 days in space and make history; understand
The crew now holds the national record for the longest space mission and the first woman to “walk”.

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Source: Conversation, Epoch.