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Hate to be that guy but what's the environmental impact of flying folks to orbit "just for kicks" if this were to become a business
I like how they say "no earlier than the forth quarter" in their announcement. Though it may not inspire confidence in a deliverable date, I might start trying to use the turn of phrase at my work.
I like how they say "no earlier than the forth quarter" in their announcement. Though it may not inspire confidence in a deliverable date, I might start trying to use the turn of phrase at my work.
Hate to be that guy but what's the environmental impact of flying folks to orbit "just for kicks" if this were to become a business
The Raptor engine uses a propellant mixture (methalox = liquid methane + liquid oxygen) that is slightly fuel rich. In other words, the reaction resultants are not just CO2 and H2O, but CH4 as well. Since CH4 is a very potent greenhouse gas (the EPA says it's 25 times more potent than CO2), this makes a difference.
Anyway, here's the numbers: the mass of the propellant is about 500 tons, and the mass of the equivalent CO2 emissions is about 650 tons per flight.
For comparison, the humankind puts about 30 billion tons of CO2 in the air every year. A Boeing 777 flight puts about 500 tons on a long haul trip.
Hate to be that guy but what's the environmental impact of flying folks to orbit "just for kicks" if this were to become a business
Becoming space faring could allow us to have a trillion humans and have the planet be effectively a nature preserve. So long term net positive environmental impact I expect.