William Atkins
Friday, 03 April 2009 21:27
Science -
Climate
Page 1 of 4
According to a study performed in part by The Aerospace Corporation, rocket launches in the future, as many more are performed each year, may need to be more strictly regulated by the global community in order to not deplete ozone in the stratosphere.
Ozone depletion is (1) the slow but steady decline in the total volume of ozone (trioxygen [O
3], or a molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms) in the Earth’s stratosphere (which contains the ozone layer) and (2) the much faster decline of stratospheric ozone over the North and South Pole regions of the Earth (which has been called the “ozone hole”).
The study, conducted by
Martin Ross,
Darin Toohey, Manfred Peinemann, and Patrick Ross, has been published in the January 2009 issue of the journal
Astropolitics.
The article is entitled “
Limits on the Space Launch Market Related to Stratospheric Ozone Depletion” (Astropolitics, Volume 7, Number 1., Pages 50-82).
The authors state in the abstract to the paper,
“Solid rocket motors (SRMs) and liquid rocket engines (LREs) deplete the global ozone layer in various capacities. We estimate global ozone depletion from rockets as a function of payload launch rate and relative mix of SRM and LRE rocket emissions."
"Currently, global rocket launches deplete the ozone layer 0.03%, an insignificant fraction of the depletion caused by other ozone depletion substances (ODSs).”
However, they warn,
“As the space industry grows and ODSs fade from the stratosphere, ozone depletion from rockets could become significant. This raises the possibility of regulation of space launch systems in the name of ozone protection.” [Abstract]
Page two discusses comments from Drs. Ross and Toohey, two of the authors of the study.
