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| Personal space flight will remain a dream if we care about the atmosphere. |
Funny a sci-fi freak like me
Is a Debbie-Downer for the
Personal space travel experience
Promised by Space-X* and
Blue Origin**. Gotta think
Blue Origin**. Gotta think
Such a waste of effort however
Thrilling such a flight could
Conceivably be. Even wanting
To shoot yourself and a few
Friends indicates you have no
Grasp of the global warming
Process and the damage
Inherent in that kind of travel.
If you’re thinking up and down
Travel being studied by Space-X,
Blue Origin, Burt Rutan***, and
Others would simply be hydrogen
As fuel and oxygen for oxidizer
(Technical terms here, forgive)
Resulting in only water exhausted
Think again. Liquid oxygen
And hydrogen when burned
Deliver a high specific impulse,
Meaning for the volume of fuel
Used they deliver a lot of energy
In terms of added motion to the
Vehicle. Unfortunately they
Vehicle. Unfortunately they
Cannot provide enough thrust
To get the vehicles off the pad.
Fuels of higher mass must be
Used to generate lifting thrust
Used to generate lifting thrust
Which is why hydrogen-oxygen
Is used for second- and third-
Stage engines and first-stage
Engines consume heavier
Molecular weight fuels. I hope
I haven’t lost you. First stages
Are often assisted by solid-fuel
Boosters, as notoriously dirty
As they are powerful. So if
We’re talking the one thousand
Or so flights per month expected
For the personal space jumps
Rutan, Blue Origin, and Space-X
Hope to offer (to make a profit)
That’s a lot of rocket soot, C02
And other crap being flung into
The atmosphere, mostly between
The pad and the shut-off elevation,
That is the lower portion, where
Combustion products are released.
The rocket and its gleeful but
Weightless passengers will
The rocket and its gleeful but
Weightless passengers will
Coast to apogee (highest point),
Begin their fall back to earth,
Still weightless until the parachutes
Pop to slow their descent. Both
Space-X and Blue Origin will
Restart their first stages, burning
Almost as much fuel as the initial
Ascent to land like a pencil on
An X-marked site. In case you’re
Thinking massively rich people
Do not waste their money on
Foolhardy and vain investments,
Have another think, wouldja?
As much as I like adventure I'd
Rather breathe.
As much as I like adventure I'd
Rather breathe.
c. J.S.Manista, 2016
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