Introduction:
The environmental impact of space tourism is a very interesting topic. We've all seen pictures of the beautiful Earth from space and it's easy to forget how fragile our home planet actually is. In fact, some reports have even called the human race "salt-spillers" for pushing around land masses with tugs like the ISS or vehicles that burrow through salt deserts like DuneSAT.
Space tourism is on everyone's mind right now. Virgin Galactic (the first commercial spaceflight company) is preparing for its maiden flight later this year, while NASA recently announced plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020. I'm always fascinated by the concept of humans traveling into space. In theory, it sounds absolutely incredible: a group of wealthy tourists journeying beyond our atmosphere and exploring exotic planets! But it also can't be dismissed as something like watching TV at home: you have no real control over your situation or the safety of what you're seeing around you.
What is the environmental impact of space tourism?
The environmental impact of space tourism is one of the most pressing questions in the field. The first thing to understand is that there are two different types of space tourism. One type involves using rockets and spacecraft to take tourists into orbit, while the other type involves taking tourists on trips to planets like Mars or Venus.
The first type of tourism has a much smaller environmental footprint than the second type. There are a number of reasons for this:
Air travel is extremely energy intensive, so it makes sense to use space tourism as an alternative if you can avoid it.
Solar power is more efficient than wind power, so it makes sense to use solar power instead of fossil fuels.
Space tourism will be cheaper than air travel and require less energy than normal air travel does.
The environmental impact of space tourism is a concern for astronauts, scientists, and environmentalists alike. The most obvious impact is the energy required to launch into orbit and get back down. If space tourism is ever going to become a reality, we will have to find ways to reduce this energy consumption.
Space tourism also has an impact on the Earth's atmosphere. Because there is no gravity on other planets, people who go into space need rocket fuel that can reach speeds of 7 miles per second (11 km/s). That means they will be burning more fuel than they would in a normal atmosphere. This means that there will be more pollution in space than on Earth.
Finally, there may be some health risks associated with space tourism. Some experts predict that humans could have problems with bone and muscle loss due to the long periods spent out of contact with Earth's gravity; others predict that weightlessness could cause nausea or dizziness for first-time travelers.
Conclusion:
It's too early to say for sure what the environmental impact of space tourism will be, but it seems like a fairly promising development. It's one that could have zero impact—or even positive impact—on the environment, if it proves popular enough to become a mainstream form of travel. So while there are still some troubling concerns, they don't look like they'll stop space tourism from ever taking off.
It is clear that space tourism will indeed have an impact, but it's hard to say at this point how big of an impact that will be. Some assessments predict a small impact, with others predicting a larger one. But this all depends on the rate at which space travel develops over time, and the international community's willingness to regulate it. For now, with so many unknowns, we can only wait and see what space travel in the future will entail for our environment.