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Virgin Galactic to monitor climate change
In an unusual marriage between the pioneers of space tourism and scientists studying climate change, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has announced it is to team up with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help monitor levels of CO2 in the upper atmosphere.
Virgin Galactic has developed a passenger rocket called SpaceShipTwo that will take space tourists for short sub-orbital flights.
When SpaceShipTwo first takes off it rides piggy back to a height of about 15 kilometres on the back of a high-altitude plane called WhiteKnightTwo.
It is the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft that will be equipped with sensors and monitoring systems to measure greenhouse gas levels as the two craft fly through the atmosphere.
Tourist flights to space
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “These flights are hardly green, but with no other civilian aircraft flying to these altitudes the ability to monitor greenhouse gases in this way is valuable.”
One-hundred-and-forty passengers have paid $200,000 deposits for trips on SpaceShipTwo and are currently undergoing tests in a centrifuge to see if they are physically capable of enduring space flight. According to Virgin Galactic, 2 passengers have failed the tests and will not be flying.
| Tourist trips to space | …at a glance |
|---|---|
| Value of space flight advance ticket sales | over £14 million |
| cruising altitude of conventional jet | 10,000m |
| altitude of SpaceShipTwo | 100km |
| Number of passengers per flight | 6 |
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Green jet fuel will win $10 million
Greener travel
The ETA is a not-for-profit ethical organisation providing motorists and cyclists with carbon-neutral breakdown cover and insurance products. As well as encouraging responsible driving to reduce carbon, the ETA campaigns for sustainable transport.
