"Billionaire Space Race Giant Leap for Pollution"
by Katharine Gammon
1 Already, people are buying tickets to space. Companies including SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Space Adventures want to make space tourism more common.
2 The Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa spent an undisclosed sum of money with SpaceX in 2018 for a possible future private trip around the moon and back. And this June, an anonymous space lover paid $28m to fly on Blue Origin’s New Shepard with [Amazon billionaire Jeff] Bezos—though later backed out due to a ”scheduling conflict.”
3 But this launch of a new private space industry that is cultivating tourism and popular use could come with vast environmental costs, says Eloise Marais, an associate professor of physical geography at University College London. Marais studies the impact of fuels and industries on the atmosphere.
4 When rockets launch into space, they require a huge amount of propellants to make it out of the Earth’s atmosphere. For SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, it is kerosene, and for Nasa it is liquid hydrogen in their new Space Launch System. Those fuels emit a variety of substances into the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, water, chlorine, and other chemicals.
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Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
What are two main reasons the writer gives for urging caution around the space tourism industry? Select the two correct answers.
(1 point)
Responses
The space industry is cultivating tourism.
The space industry is cultivating tourism.
New developments in space create an air of excitement.
New developments in space create an air of excitement.
Rocket emissions are small compared to emissions from the aircraft industry.
Rocket emissions are small compared to emissions from the aircraft industry.
There are currently no regulations around rocket emissions.
There are currently no regulations around rocket emissions.
The industry is growing larger each year.
The industry is growing larger each year.
1 answer
1 answer