> are you saying that burning rocket fuel produces little to no pollution?
There are high-atmosphere effects we don't yet understand. RP-1 produces soot, particularly when burned fuel rich. And methalox still releases methane since again you're not burning your fuel perfectly.
But the simplicity of non-hypergolic non-kerosene rocket fuel chemistries like the ones SpaceX uses is they burn remarkably clean. You don't get a bunch of additives producing weird neurotoxins, or incomplete combustion inventing organic compounds in the high atmosphere.
(I'm ignoring cryogenic fuels, which literally produce water vapour as an exhaust because liquid hydrogen is a bastard.)
> As in, we could launch a million rockets per day with a negligible effect on the air and other environments?
No. Starship releases like 360 tons of CO2 per launch [1].
That said, nobody is launching a million rockets a day. We might get to like 3 or 4 a day in our lifetimes. Barring some novel economic opportunity in space, launch emissions are likely to remain negligble for the foreseeable future.
There are high-atmosphere effects we don't yet understand. RP-1 produces soot, particularly when burned fuel rich. And methalox still releases methane since again you're not burning your fuel perfectly.
But the simplicity of non-hypergolic non-kerosene rocket fuel chemistries like the ones SpaceX uses is they burn remarkably clean. You don't get a bunch of additives producing weird neurotoxins, or incomplete combustion inventing organic compounds in the high atmosphere.
(I'm ignoring cryogenic fuels, which literally produce water vapour as an exhaust because liquid hydrogen is a bastard.)
> As in, we could launch a million rockets per day with a negligible effect on the air and other environments?
No. Starship releases like 360 tons of CO2 per launch [1].
That said, nobody is launching a million rockets a day. We might get to like 3 or 4 a day in our lifetimes. Barring some novel economic opportunity in space, launch emissions are likely to remain negligble for the foreseeable future.
[1] https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/news/elon-musk-rocket-emitte...