3 ms·

OK thats a big number, but we are talking about spreading heavy elements around the atmosphere, some portion of which will end up in the soil, then in us. Let'

OK thats a big number, but we are talking about spreading heavy elements around the atmosphere, some portion of which will end up in the soil, then in us. Let's examine a reductio ad absurdum of a medium term future where we have 1000x more space vehicles all taking space dumps into the atmosphere. Would that be best practice? Is there a better norm we could establish today?

CaptArmchair 3y ago
If de-orbiting is your concern, then I would suggest taking a step back and considering the impact on our atmosphere of increasing the number of launches. This isn't a theoretical question. There's growing awareness among researchers that there's a need to research how the gasses and particles produced by rocket launches at scale could have an impact on the atmosphere. https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/features/2023/rocket-pollution/ https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/features/2023/rocket-polluti...
- HlessClaudesman 3y ago
  Thanks for the link. Nice use of web tech to illustrate an issue.
- huppeldepup 3y ago
  Scrolling on that link doesn’t work on FF, Safari or Brave on iOS.
  - eythian 3y ago
    Are you scrolling up? That caught me out for a moment.
  - autoexec 3y ago
    I have JS disabled so I can scroll, but the page is long and blank. There's some text if I view source at least.
bazzargh 3y ago
This is 2 1/2 tons, not all of it nickel. Approximately 48.5 tons of meteorites hit the earth every day https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/ https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/ and those are around 1-1.8% nickel https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/metal-iron-nickel/#:~:text=all%20chondrites%20have%20bulk%20(whole%2Drock)%20concentrations%20of%20nickel%20of%201.0%2D1.8%25 https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/metal-iron-nicke... So, there's about 1/2 a ton of nickel falling into the atmosphere every day anyway, 180 tons a year, already in the ballpark of your thousand ships.

CaptArmchair 3y ago

If de-orbiting is your concern, then I would suggest taking a step back and considering the impact on our atmosphere of increasing the number of launches. This isn't a theoretical question. There's growing awareness among researchers that there's a need to research how the gasses and particles produced by rocket launches at scale could have an impact on the atmosphere. https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/features/2023/rocket-pollution/ https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/features/2023/rocket-polluti...

HlessClaudesman 3y ago
Thanks for the link. Nice use of web tech to illustrate an issue.
huppeldepup 3y ago
Scrolling on that link doesn’t work on FF, Safari or Brave on iOS.
- eythian 3y ago
  Are you scrolling up? That caught me out for a moment.
- autoexec 3y ago
  I have JS disabled so I can scroll, but the page is long and blank. There's some text if I view source at least.

bazzargh 3y ago

This is 2 1/2 tons, not all of it nickel. Approximately 48.5 tons of meteorites hit the earth every day https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/ https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/ and those are around 1-1.8% nickel https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/metal-iron-nickel/#:~:text=all%20chondrites%20have%20bulk%20(whole%2Drock)%20concentrations%20of%20nickel%20of%201.0%2D1.8%25 https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/metal-iron-nicke... So, there's about 1/2 a ton of nickel falling into the atmosphere every day anyway, 180 tons a year, already in the ballpark of your thousand ships.