Richard Branson’s success flying into space with his Virgin Galactic aircraft was hailed by many as being considered to open a new era of space tourism. Moreover, on July 20, the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos will do the same.
Bezos will use aircraft made by Blue Origin, a company he owns. With this development, it wasn’t long before ordinary people went into space as long as they could afford tickets. However, there are effects that are considered less favorable.
Quoted from CNN, the first impression is an environmental problem. Virgin Galactic claims carbon emissions in sub-orbital flights are similar to long-haul business aircraft.
"But space flights carry far fewer passengers. Each passenger, per kilometer, on a journey of more than 160 kilometers to the edge of space, uses 12 kilograms of CO2," CNN said.
Meanwhile, Blue Origin is trying to be environmentally friendly with a liquid oxygen engine that emits no emissions. However, hydrogen fuel production is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels such as natural gas. This process also releases carbon dioxide.
The ticket cost is also very expensive USD 250 thousand per person one way with Virgin Galactic. With fares so high, passengers only experience a distance of about 5 minutes, an experience far from a real astronaut that can last for hours and days.
On the other hand, there are many problems in the world such as climate change and economic inequality. Neither Richard Branson, Elon Musk nor Jeff Bezos are considered to be able to make a huge contribution to overcoming this if the three of them work together, not just thinking about space tourism.
But of course there is an argument that what Richard Branson, Bezos and Musk are doing is essential to continuing innovation in space.
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