Posted on 04/02/2009 5:46:07 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Just when it looks as though people could breath a sigh of relief over the hole in stratospheric ozone over Antarctica — it’s expected to heal by 2050 — scientists are raising a new ozone-related concern: rocket launches.
That’s right. Rocket launches.
The idea is not as wiggy as it may sound. As early as 1974, some scientists had noted that the space shuttle — still a gleam in NASA’s eye at the time — would be a source of chlorine emissions as it climbed through the atmosphere and passed through the stratosphere.
(Excerpt) Read more at features.csmonitor.com ...
Yes it is.
Lets just go back to the dark ages and we’ll solve all our problems.
Nope. One shuttle launch does more Ozone Layer damage than if you had dumped every R-12 air conditioner on the planet.
Ever since 1952 or so the weather’s been nutso. And I’ll tell ya why. It’s them jet aeroplanes. Ever since then all you ever hear about on the teevee is the guy saying the jetstream bringing the cold here, the jetstream taking the storms there.
So how do we leave this stupid planet then? I’d pick teleportation but Algore’s descendants might come up with another idiotic excuse that it will cause galactic warming.
So, this is the REAL reason why leftists are against North Korea launching its missile-ahem satellite.
As a kid I dreamed of going to space, colonizing it. Then we quit, and decided to sprnd the money escalating the "War on Poverty". It's a quagmire. We should have pulled out.
I reckon I'll leave here the same way just about everyone else has, just before they plant my carcass.
How much deceptive “hot” air comes out of the mouths of the US Congress??
You are likely right. What do the ammonium perchlorate-laden Solid Rocket Booster weigh, each? And what comes out of them? Aluminum oxides, NOx's and chlorides.
The amount it pollutes is likely negligible.
Chlorine emissions from the Space Shuttle?
The main engines use Hydrogen and Oxygen. The SRBs burn a solid rocket propellant that is a mixture of powdered aluminum and ammonium perchlorate. The shuttle maneuvering engines use hydrazine with oxygen.
So where does the Chlorine come from?
I know what it is..the libs want us to suffer WITH them and go back to that wonderful time when we embraced Mother Gaia and lived on trees and rocks without “harmful” technology.
Wouldn’t a hole in the ozone be a good thing to combat CO2 emissions?
“One shuttle launch does more Ozone Layer damage than if you had dumped every R-12 air conditioner on the planet.”
NOT EVEN CLOSE!
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/spacecraft/q0298a.shtml
” Large amounts of chlorine high in the stratosphere attack ozone and cause it to break down. Earth’s ozone layer absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and protects life on the surface from this cancer-causing radiation. However, studies have shown that the amount of chlorine produced by the Space Shuttle and other rockets using similar solid propellants is actually quite small and has a miniscule effect on the ozone layer.
Independent atmospheric modeling studies performed by NASA and private research firms in 1990 and 1991 indicated that the vast majority of chlorine present in the stratosphere is produced by industrial or natural sources. In an average year, industry generates an estimated 300 million kilograms of stratospheric chlorine while natural sources like volcanoes produce about 75 million kilograms. Assuming nine Space Shuttle launches and six launches of Titan rockets per year results in a total of 725,000 kilograms of chlorine released into the upper atmosphere. The actual launch rate of the Shuttle has only been this high once, in 1985, and is generally much lower with an historic average of less than five launches per year. “
The Chlorine comes from the solid rocket boosters, as the propellant is a mixure of Ammonium Perchlorate, rubber & Powdered Aluminum, and many hundreds of tons of it.
Read my post 12. The Space Program has very little impact.
I failed to copy the best part.
“Even at the highest launch rate, however, Space Shuttle and Titan launches add less than 0.25% of the total chlorine present in the upper atmosphere. This tiny amount of chlorine would decrease the yearly average of global ozone by just 0.0065%. This reduction is far less than even the variation in ozone levels due to natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions and solar flares. The launch rate of vehicles with solid rocket boosters would have to be increased by at least two orders of magnitude to have a comparable effect on the ozone layer as natural processes. “
Here’s how Obama is going to stop North Korea.
“Don’t do it Kim. It’s bad for the environment!!!”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.