Martin Coates
Contributor
Martin Coates is the CEO of U.K.-based spaceflight company Orbex and is an engineering and technology management veteran with more than 30 years’ experience. He is also a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Rocket launches are nothing short of spectacular. Whether we grew up in the Apollo era, the space shuttle era or the private space era, most of us can easily bring to mind a rocket launch with the roar of its engines, jets of fire and trails of smoke. That image is burned into the consciousness of nearly everyone on planet Earth with access to TV or internet.
But, until recently, few people considered that those spectacular launches might be leaving an awful lot of pollution in its wake. As it turns out, the space travel industry, with its several dozen launches per year, is responsible for the same amount of carbon emissions as the global aviation industry. With the commercial space industry mat …
