Researchers Warn About Black Carbon Chemical From Frequent Rocket Launches

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 16 June 2022, 01:06 pm

In the past few years, the public has been made aware of the dangers of global warming, and governments around the world are working together to put the ozone layer on the road to recovery.

Several factories have eliminated ozone-depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons or CFC and hydrochlorofluorocarbons or HCFCs.

However, there is another component that is deemed environmentally destructive: black carbon.

Effects of Black Carbon on the Ozone Layer

In an interview with Wired, atmospheric scientist Christopher Maloney believes that the frequent rocket launches could deplete the ozone layer due to the black carbon they release.

Maloney, along with his colleagues, conducted a study and modeled how black carbon belched out by rocket launches is warming parts of the atmosphere and can be dangerous to the thinning ozone layer.

In the study, Maloney and his team pointed out that when a rocket ship is launched, it blasts a spray of aerosols and black carbon. The rockets release tons of these chemicals in the stratosphere, which is 15 to 40 kilometers above the ground.

Also Read: Key Parts Of Earth's Ozone Layer Not Healing: Study

These particles don't just evaporate; they persist in the stratosphere and stay there for four years, long enough to cause some damage.

Maloney and his team concluded the study by revealing the effects of this type of air pollution. According to him, different sizes of aerosols could either heat or cool regions of space at different latitudes, longitudes, and altitudes.

Within 20 years, the temperatures in parts of the stratosphere could increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, and the ozone layer in the northern hemisphere could thin slightly.

They've concluded that the more rockets launched, the more black carbon is released, which could pose a problem.

The Earth will be warmer, the ozone layer will be thinner, and humans, wildlife, and crops won't be protected from the harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Maloney and his team published their study on June 1 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Global Launch Rate

According to EOS, the global rocket launch rate increased by 8%. This was fueled by the space race of several billionaires in 2021.

On July 11, 2021, Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson went to space with five crewmates. A few days later, on July 20, 2021, his rival Jeff Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon and current CEO of Blue Origin, launched into suborbital space with three crewmates.

In 2018, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa spent an undisclosed sum of money with SpaceX for a future private trip to the moon.

All of these trips are part of the industry's space tourism mission, and major space firms have begun selling tickets to those interested in going on a trip. But this new project comes with vast environmental costs.

In an interview with The Guardian, Eloise Marais, an associate professor of physical geography at University College London, revealed the impact of the space industry on the atmosphere.

Marais pointed out that when rockets launch into space, they require massive propellants to make it out of the atmosphere.

The fuels emit different substances into the atmosphere. Marais' research draws the same conclusion as Maloney's study.

So how can space firms protect the atmosphere amid space tourism? Experts believe that kerosene-burning rockets, which are used by SpaceX's Falcon 9, and liquid hydrogen used by NASA could be cleaner and could eventually help stop the emission of harmful chemicals into the atmosphere.