The space tourism race could be one giant leap for air pollution

Date: Tuesday 1 February 2022, 1-2pm About the lecture: As we make major sacrifices to limit our environmental damage to the planet, the billionaire space tourism companies Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX are burning dirty fuels to send a few wealthy people on a joyride to outer space. Only three companies are offering space tourism flights and there were far fewer this year than the millions of flights by the aviation industry. So, should we be concerned? In this talk, Dr Marais will discuss why air pollution from rocket emissions is more hazardous to the environment than earthbound industries. About the speaker: Dr Eloise Marais, Associate Professor of Physical Geography at UCL