Space Travel: Dream or Disaster?

20 years in the making, commercialized space travel has long been advertised as the ultimate dream by mainstream media. However, as humanity is closer than ever to actualizing this ambitious vision, questions of equality, sustainability, and responsibility can no longer be avoided. Blasting into space in July 2021 with the New Shepard rocket, engineered by his own company, Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos quickly became the central figure in the space travel debate. Bezos’s ‘joyride’ has been criticized due to the fact that he, one of the wealthiest men on earth, was consciously choosing to allocate resources to causes that are solely in the interest of his own amusement rather than donating to causes on Earth. The heated debate also brought up issues of inequality in the US class system, especially as Amazon employees have long complained of their working conditions, with reports of staff urinating in bottles for fear of missing delivery rates while regularly working 14-hour days (1). Bezos, however, isn’t the only billionaire rushing to space. Richard Branson and Elon Musk have also been heavily investing in aerospace technologies, indicating that there will be many more commercial space travels to come. The question to ask now is whether these billionaires are ethically responsible for considering the environmental and social impacts of these missions.

The ethics code of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) states, “engineers shall consider environmental impact and sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties.” (2) Although the effects of a single flight are not always visible, they are bound to add up. According to Eloise Marais, a professor of physical geography at University College London, “The carbon footprint of space launches is incredibly high, close to about 100 times higher than if you took a long-haul flight.” (3) In addition, rocket launches can contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer, since they directly emit dangerous chemicals into the stratosphere. As an example, Bezos’s New Shephard runs on a combination of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. While neither of these sources directly emits carbon when combusted, liquid hydrogen production does. Compressing and liquifying oxygen for fuel is also an energy-intensive process that, if not done using renewables, results in carbon pollution. “The Virgin Galactic flight carried six passengers and reached an altitude of 53 miles, and from information provided by Virgin Galactic, we can estimate that carbon emissions per passenger mile are about 60 times that of a business class flight,” Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said, adding that “more research is needed to understand the full climate impact.” (4)

Quoting the ASME ethics code, “engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance of their professional duties.” (2) The millions of dollars spent on these travels are simply lost resources that could have been dedicated to social causes such as poverty and gender inequality. From a virtue ethics standpoint, these billionaires are responsible for giving back to their community, especially since space travel does not carry within itself real scientific value, I believe. Space tourism flights from Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have only reached suborbital space, which is not a new frontier.

Even though space exploration contributes to our fundamental understanding of the universe and is responsible for the development of multiple technologies such as satellites, commercial space travel does not serve the same purpose. Rather, it is a selfish endeavor taken on by billionaires as a means to demonstrate their power, without any regard to environmental nor social consequences such as global warming, inequality, and justice.

References

[1] Guardian News and Media. (2021, July 20). Bezos blasted for traveling to space while Amazon workers toil on Planet Earth. The Guardian. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/20/bezos-space-travel-blue-origin-amazon-criticism

[2] American Society of Mechanical Engineers. (2012, February 1). Society policy ethics code of ethics of engineers. Retrieved March 10, 2022, from https://www.asme.org/wwwasmeorg/media/resourcefiles/aboutasme/get%20involved/advocacy/policy-publications/p-15-7-ethics.pdf

[3] Heilweil, R. (2021, July 25). How bad is space tourism for the environment? and other space travel questions, answered. Vox. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://www.vox.com/recode/22589197/space-travel-tourism-bezos-branson-rockets-blue-origin-virgin-galactic-spacex

[4] Gizmodo. (2021, July 19). Space tourism is a waste. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://gizmodo.com/space-tourism-is-a-waste-1847285820