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He's trying to say that rockets emit CO₂, but there are very few of them compared to other things that also emit CO₂ at high altitudes, namely airplanes. He's a
by Arnt 8y ago
He's trying to say that rockets emit CO₂, but there are very few of them compared to other things that also emit CO₂ at high altitudes, namely airplanes. He's also saying that some rockets have significant other pollution problems, but not SpaceX's.
- Robotbeat 8y agoIndeed. And there may come a time when such emissions are enough to matter, but we should then just apply a proper tax to them (as well as airplanes). That’d encourage using alternatives (like hydrogen which is actually a superior rocket fuel from an exhaust velocity perspective but is harder to handle and leads to greater dry mass) and also provide incentive to pull such emissions from the atmosphere. Elon Musk has advocated such a broad carbon tax, including on SpaceX’s rockets (which use kerosene and eventually methane).