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Pollution caused by space launches
1. Pollution caused by space launches:
The Shuttle uses two engine models which use different types of fuel, thus giving
different exhausts.
Space shuttle fuel consumed in a launch: 3.5 million pounds
There were 78 space launches worldwide in 1999, almost all much smaller
than the space shuttle.
The pollution caused by space launches depends not only on the total
quantity of the fuels used, but on their chemical composition..
The propellants which are decomposed into four types:
1) Solid - Propellants that are a mixture of solid chemicals that burnt at a rapid
rate when ignited expelling hot gasses The space shuttle uses potassium
perchlorate (KClO4) and powdered aluminum. The combustion products are
potassium chloride and aluminum oxide which is harmful for the environment
2) Cryogenic - In space propellants liquid hydrogen (LH) and liquid oxygen
the resulting mixture is called FLOX which has high toxicity.
They are stored in the space vehicle and pumped into the rocket engines where
they burn to expel hot gases The combustion product is water vapor.
3) Petroleum kerosene is mixed with liquid oxygen and burned in the engine The
products are carbon dioxide and water vapor
4) Hypergolic - fuels and oxidants The combustion products depend on the
chemicals used. The space shuttle The combustion products are nitrogen, water
vapor and carbon dioxide.
2. NASA's space shuttles fires its engines for around 8.5 minutes, consuming
1,000 tons of solid propellant and an additional 2,000,000 litres of liquid
propellant to lift the 100,000 kg vehicle to an altitude of 111 km and an orbital
velocity of 30,000 km/h.
With a specific energy of 31MJ per kg for aluminum and 143 MJ/kg for liquid
hydrogen this means that the vehicle consumes around 5 TJ of solid propellant and
15 TJ of hydrogen fuel.
Reports have been made by NASA in the years 1978 and 1990. In the 1978
Environmental Impact Statement , NASA the exhaust emissions of the Shuttle
launch
hydrogen chloride, chlorine, nitric oxide carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water,
and aluminum oxide the exhaust interacts with the ozone layer
and poses the threat of its depletion 57,700 kilograms of hydrogen chloride
interacts with elements in the atmosphere
release of chlorine (The chlorine break down of ozone becomes part of a
continuous cycle of destructive reactions)