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Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

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Re: Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

#61

Post by onion2k »

SilkRoadie wrote: post #24

I am somewhat uneducated on the topic but is space tourism a good idea? It is a flight to nowhere which surely has a hefty carbon cost. Doesn't it also add pollutants high up in the atmosphere? As exciting as it is to experience space I could imagine the environment cost is far from ideal.

A SpaceX launch outputs 336,552KG of CO2. I imagine Blue Origin's first passenger flight will be a bit less because it's not going as high.

The environmental cost of doing anything is far from ideal, but in the case of space tourism the impact is minimal. A 777-300 flight from New York to London outputs about 1,261KG of CO2 per passenger.[1] In British Airways configuration there are 299 seats on a plane like that, which is 377,039KG in total. There are 28 direct NY-LDN flights daily.

If the goal is to reduce the amount of high atmosphere CO2 then persuading 300 fewer people to fly across the Atlantic would have a larger impact.

It's also worth pointing out that Jeff Bezos owns two Gulfstream G650ER private jets, which will be putting a lot more CO2 in to the atmosphere than his day trip to space.

[1] From https://www.atmosfair.de/en/offset/flight/

EDIT: It turns out that Blue Origin's rocket exhaust is water, so all the CO2 is retained at ground level. I guess that's good news.

Re: Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

#62

Post by wongarsu »

SilkRoadie wrote: post #24

I am somewhat uneducated on the topic but is space tourism a good idea? It is a flight to nowhere which surely has a hefty carbon cost. Doesn't it also add pollutants high up in the atmosphere? As exciting as it is to experience space I could imagine the environment cost is far from ideal.

If the overview effect [1] is real, even just a few world leaders and ultra-wealthy appreciating the fragility of earth could easily outweigh any pollution from space tourism.

In terms of carbon it's not even that bad, a spaceflight is roughly comparable to an airliner crossing the Atlantic. Of course it puts other pollutants in more layers of the atmosphere, something we definitely have to study as spaceflight becomes more common.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect

Re: Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

#64

Post by nojito »

shantara wrote: post #9
nojito wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have done many successful flights. They just don’t have the marketing skills of someone like a Spacex.

Suborbital flights. Which require about 3% of energy needed to reach an orbit, and are of very limited practical use other than serving as an extended rollercoaster ride for tourists. Blue Origin are very far away from achieving anything comparable to even SpaceX first Falcon-1 flight from 2008.

I mean the OP is talking about successful suborbital flights...

Re: Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

#66

Post by e17 »

ksec wrote: post #34
gameswithgo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American Oligarchs are certainly up to more interesting things than Russian ones at the moment!

Is that the new/modern definition of oligarch, or how oligarch is used in US? I dont see how Jeff or Elon are oligarchs in the sense of russian oligarchs.

IMO you have to maintain or exert some control over a nation in order to be an oligarch. So Jeff and Elon are out, but David Koch and Robert Mercer meet the definition for me. These guys have exerted huge control over the US over the last 30-40 years.

Re: Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

#67

Post by nextstep »

blendergeek wrote: post #55
cdmckay wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the difference between an American oligarch and a Russian oligarch? Aside from the nationality.

Oligarch tend to need outsized control over the government in addition to billions of dollars. I don't know if Elon and Jeff have that yet.

This seems like an oligarchy to me https://theintercept.com/2021/05/25/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-s...

Re: Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

#68

Post by HatchedLake721 »

_Microft wrote: post #23

I was a bit shocked how Jeff Bezos looked in the video [0] in which he invited his brother to go with him. He does not look healthy, even a bit bloated. Does anyone know if he is having health issues? [0] https://www.instagram.com/p/CP0MSOqnYEo/

It looks like he had some face procedures done

Re: Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

#69

Post by zepolen »

SilkRoadie wrote: post #24

I am somewhat uneducated on the topic but is space tourism a good idea? It is a flight to nowhere which surely has a hefty carbon cost. Doesn't it also add pollutants high up in the atmosphere? As exciting as it is to experience space I could imagine the environment cost is far from ideal.

Is life a good idea? Human have a hefty carbon cost, and aren't they also the leading cause of pollutants? I could imagine individuals truly concerned for the environment would stop reproducing.

Re: Jeff Bezos will fly on the first passenger spaceflight of Blue Origin in July

#70

Post by jonplackett »

cdmckay wrote: post #42
ksec wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that the new/modern definition of oligarch, or how oligarch is used in US? I dont see how Jeff or Elon are oligarchs in the sense of russian oligarchs.

What's the difference between an American oligarch and a Russian oligarch? Aside from the nationality.

Oligarchs were basically given large existing monopolies and then just sit on them and make money with no reason to innovate.

While it’s a fun jibe to throw at them it’s a completely different thing to just being insanely wealthy through actually doing something effectively (if sometimes immorally)

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