SYLLABUS SECTION: GS III (SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Rocket launches amid a growing space tourism race among commercial players like Virgin Galactic,

SpaceX and Blue Origin can negatively impact the climate and the ozone layer, a new study has found.

About:        

• The Researchers found that the soot emissions from rocket launches are far more effective at warming the atmosphere compared to other sources.
• The researchers state that routine launches by the rapidly growing space tourism industry,
• May undermine progress made by the Montreal Protocol in reversing ozone depletion.

Space Tourism Industry:

• The space industry is one of the world’s fastest growing sectors.
• From $350 million in 2019, the industry is forecast to grow to more than $1 trillion by 2040.
• With companies like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and Blue Origin launching commercial space flights,
• Space tourism has become, at least theoretically, a possibility for enthusiasts.

• In the 20th century, the Soviet Union and United States were engage in an intense competition to attain complete domination of spaceflight technologies.
• Today, it is private companies that are taking part in their very own commercial space race, initiate with Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson’s journeys to space in July 2021.

Montreal Protocol

• The Montreal Protocol is a landmark international treaty that was adopt in Montreal in 1987, and was aims at protecting the Earth’s ozone layer by regulating the production and consumption of nearly 100 chemicals calls ozone-depleting substances (ODS).
• The treaty phases down the consumption and production of various ODS in a stepwise manner.
• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) states that without this treaty, ozone depletion would have increased by more than ten times by 2050, as compared to current levels.

Read more: UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS

SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS