The problem with rocket emissions
this
is our stratosphere
it’s the second layer
of our atmosphere and within it
we have our ozone layer
our ozone layer is this massive
invisible protective shield that
surrounds our planet blocking out 98
of harmful ultraviolet radiation
without it we’d all essentially get
fried to death
plants animals and life itself simply
wouldn’t exist
we must protect our ozone layer at all
costs
but
we have a problem
each time we send something into space
we risk damaging our ozone layer one bit
at a time exposing life on earth to more
harmful radiation
we as humans are curious competitive
creatures it’s why we love space travel
and i want to make it clear that space
travel has brought us so many good
things
i mean we’ve flown by every planet in
our solar system we’ve sent humans to
the moon
and we’ve even sent satellites into
interstellar realm outside our solar
system
it’s led to the innovations and
inventions of
laptops phone cameras gps insulin pumps
and we could go on
and on and on
i mean we’ve escaped gravity here this
is one of or perhaps humanity’s greatest
accomplishment but
it’s important to examine the
consequences of our actions
each time we send a rocket into space
burning either solid or liquid rocket
fuel
we shoot out a bunch of these teeny tiny
particles into our stratosphere
they’re made of black carbon or soot and
alumina
these particles are between 0.3 and 10
microns in diameter
for reference a single strand of human
hair is 50 microns wide
but these particles arrange together in
these ginormous stratospheric clouds and
they can stay here for a really long
time of up to four years
when they stay here for up to four years
they absorb and reflect sunlight
this actually changes the flow of
radiation from our sun
into our stratosphere
we call this radiative forcing
and radiative forcing heats up our
stratosphere and as our stratosphere
gets hotter it speeds up the rate of
processes that damage and thin out our
ozone
and what’s more is that these harmful
processes can occur on the surface of
alumina particles themselves
so you may be wondering how much does
rocket pollution contribute to our ozone
loss
well the current estimates which may be
a little inaccurate say that we’ve
destroyed our ozone from rockets by
between 0.01
and 0.1 percent
that’s no big deal
isn’t it well it’s actually a huge deal
and let me explain why
as we speak we’re currently in the midst
of a modern space race but instead of
the soviet union sending a bunch of
satellites into space and us americans
sending even more satellites into space
it’s led by these guys
yup our favorite billionaire space
moguls
elon musk jeff bezos and richard branson
who own these ginormous private space
companies
let me repeat that private space
companies not governmental agencies
this privatization of space travel is a
huge deal
because it creates a space economy
and in today’s space economy we have
over a hundred corporations across
across the globe
and countries across the globe like
india and china each sending more
objects the space than we ever imagined
and these billionaires simply don’t care
that much about the environment and it’s
understandable i mean it’s not their top
priority this is a space race we’re
talking about here and they’re trying to
get as much stuff into space as fast as
they possibly can
just within the past year in 2021
we’ve sent 1100 objects into space
that’s almost 10 percent of all objects
ever sent into space
just within the past seven months
in 2021
and that measly current point one
percent of global ozone loss is bound to
grow significantly especially with the
advent of space tourism
in 2013 a bunch of celebrities like brad
pitt justin bieber selena gomez on the
list goes on
dozens of these celebrities bought
tickets to go to outer space in the
coming decades
and just the other day jeff bezos and
richard branson went into outer space
this space economy is going to be
booming
so you may be wondering
what laws do we have in place or rules
or regulations do we have to try to
limit and reduce this pollution
the answer
is none
we have no laws to reduce this pollution
the montreal protocol which is the 1987
international treaty responsible for
protecting our ozone layer
has nothing to say about rocket
emissions
in addition international space law has
no mention of rocket emissions either
for reference
the previously banned ozone depleting
substances by the montreal protocol
adds up to about three percent and
rocket emissions are thought to be
between 0.01 and 0.1 percent as of now
we as humans need to learn from our
mistakes
for example we saw an eerily similar
problem with space debris
ever since we launched the first
satellite in 1957
the sputnik won by the soviet union into
orbit
we’ve created space junk and today we
have hundreds of millions of this these
tiny fragments of space junk orbiting
our planet at 10 times the speed of a
bullet
each one having the capability to
severely damage a spacecraft
so how many laws do we have today
that prevent us from making more space
junk
the answer
zero
we have none
we cannot make this same mistake with
rocket pollution but as of now we’re
currently headed down the same path
especially because we haven’t done our
research
the current scientific studies and
models that exist of this pollution have
been conducted several decades ago
and they consist of pollutants that
don’t really damage your ozone layer by
that much
we haven’t created mechanisms to try to
reduce this pollution and we haven’t we
don’t know how much pollution is really
up there and what impact it really has
we don’t know how newer methane based
fuels may impact our planet
even nasa which is a governmental agency
is actively working to fund these
private companies and to accelerate
space travel
so
here we are guys we’re living in the
midst of this exhilarating space race
corporations and countries across the
globe are actively working to send more
satellites into space than we’ve ever
seen before
it’s the year 2021 and there’s no going
back
i decided to manifest my two cents into
a science fair project
in the year 2019 when i was 16 years old
i made it my goal to create some sort of
air purifier for the stratosphere
i envisioned that with a drone or a
weather balloon this air purifier could
go up into the stratosphere after a
rocket launch and collect this pollution
when it’s kind of concentrated
but
making an air filter that will survive
in the stratosphere is no easy task the
stratosphere is an unpleasant and
unforgiving environment
such a filter had to meet several
criteria it had to be porous
relatively inexpensive
strong
hydrophobic
lightweight
resistant to ozone vacuum and radiation
conditions in the stratosphere
i used a material called air gel for my
filter
aerogel is an ultra light strong and
porous material
specifically i chose to use polyemit air
gels
polyamide is a material used by nasa
because of its wide temperature range
remarkable strength and inexpensive
price
i infused my polyamide aero gels with
cerium oxide nanoparticles
these nanoparticles are so small that a
hundred thousand of them could fit in
the width of a single human hair
so using these cerium oxide
nanoparticles in my polyimide air gel
allowed it to meet all my criteria they
made them uv and ozone resistant
while being hydrophobic
without clogging up my filter
so how did i test my filter
well
as you can imagine as a 16 year old i
didn’t really have access to the
stratosphere
so
i built my very own stratospheric
chamber
and with enormous amounts of help from
teachers parents and friends i was able
to test out my filters
against this rocket pollution in a lab
the result
my dull polyimide penny looking air gels
try saying that 10 times fast collected
over two and a half times the pollution
of ordinary furnace filters in addition
to being twice as strong
and add half the density now
although my nifty little high school
science fair project is very fascinating
thank you very much
it’s simply a small step in the right
direction
and we need to take several leaps before
we can get rocket pollution under
control
how can we create the world’s first
modern atmospheric models of this
pollution
how can we raise awareness about this
poorly known and poorly studied issue
how can we reduce this rocket pollution
without stunting our innovation
my hope is that we can get lawmakers
activists and scientists to all come
together to make a difference
to protect our ozone
to protect our planet and all the
beautiful life in it
and to allow us to achieve humanity’s
wildest space dreams
during this accelerating space race
thank you