How much do rockets pollute? This is a question I get asked all the time and quite frankly, it is a fantastic question. Lastly, we will look at the things the aerospace industry is doing to improve the environmental impact of rockets. What about when parts are thrown away in the oceans or on land? What impact does that have? Or what about space debris? Do we need to worry about how much junk we are putting in space? We will get to those questions in upcoming articles, but for now, we are just going to focus on air.īy the end of this article we will hopefully have a healthy understanding of the environmental impact rockets have on our atmosphere, we will figure out whether or not rockets’ impact is reckless, or if it is really not that big of a deal. We are going to see just how much of what rockets emit, go over how much different fuels and engine types pollute, then we will compare their emissions against other forms of transportation and other global polluters.Īnd we will even figure out what would happen if SpaceX’s proposed Starship point to point transportation would replace airliners, would that be an improvement in emissions, or a step backwards?īut that is not the only environmental impact rockets have. So today we are going to do a deep dive into this. Or isn’t it weird that Elon Musk, the same person who is pushing sustainable energy with Tesla, also has a rocket company that runs on fossil fuels?Īnd let’s not forget about Jeff Bezos, who just pledged 10 billion dollars to help combat climate change, and who will soon be frequently launching a rocket almost the size of the Saturn V moon rocket! Isn’t this all a little bit hypocritical? Some might find it ironic that an organization like NASA, who studies our atmosphere, is Ok with rockets polluting it so much. Forget the fact that they are the only way humans can currently put anything meaningful into orbit, but seeing and hearing a rocket launch is simply put just incredible and truly an unforgettable experience.īut as awesome as those flames and sounds are, what is not awesome is thinking about how much a single rocket pollutes.

It is hard to argue that rockets are not incredible pieces of machinery. Or more simply, how much do rockets pollute?

Video by Tim Dodd, web version by Florian Kordina and Andy Law

Shape rocket cleaner