space
troposphere
CARBON FOOTPRINT
An artist’s impression of Virgin Galactic’s future home, Spaceport America in new Mexico - now in course of construction.
mesosphere
Virgin Galactic’s carrier aircraft VMS Eve - the world’s largest all composite aviation vehicle.
earth
Carbon footprint
Calculations suggest that emissions per passenger, per suborbital space flight, will be approximately 0.8 tonnes1
– less than the per
passenger footprint of a one-way business class flight from London to New York. Approximately 70% of the spaceflight carbon footprint is from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, rather than the spaceship itself. This means there is great potential to reduce the overall carbon emissions from non-renewable sources by using a large proportion of sustainable fuel, once one is available.
Our markets:
Space tourism
To date, fewer than 500 people have travelled into space, but Virgin Galactic will offer many thousands of people from around the world the opportunity to experience space travel first hand. This kind of space tourism presents itself as the primary target market for Virgin Galactic, without which the project would not have been feasible .
Scientific research
Virgin Galactic aims to support low gravity and near-space scientific research through its space launch systems. In particular, access to the upper atmosphere from the limit of commercial aviation at ~12km (40000ft) to the edge of space at ~100km is currently very limited. Balloons cannot reach the upper atmosphere and orbital vehicles fly too high. Ground-based measurements e.g. with lasers, and rocket experiments into this region of the atmosphere, have either limited sensitivity or duration respectively.
The upper atmosphere is the “gateway” that connects Earth’s environment and space. Here great surges of energy meet; energy from the sun and interplanetary space travelling inwards and energy from the Earth’s surface radiating back into space. A specific region of the upper atmosphere, the mesosphere (50-90km) is a highly sensitive indicator of global atmospheric temperatures, with the potential to act as the ‘canary in the coal mine’ where climate change is concerned . Virgin Galactic aims to revolutionise regular access to this region for scientists and their experiments, thus greatly enhancing our ability to understand climate change and determine appropriate strategies to mitigate the impacts.
The Virgin Galactic space tourism project has attracted a global media following and high levels of public enthusiasm and support. Virgin Galactic has been able to use its high profile to raise money for good causes. For example, in 2007 Virgin Galactic auctioned off a seat and raised $300,000 US which was donated to Virgin Unite to help support the creation of the Disease Control Hub, a partnership with the South African Government that aims to help save thousands of lives (you can read more about this in the Unite
section on page 74).
1. This is an estimate. Virgin Galactic will not know the exact carbon footprint until SpaceShipTwo completes its powered test flight programme.
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thermosphere (aurora)
stratosphere
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