Fire causes air pollution. News at 11.
Meanwhile commercial shipping in international waters uses the worst fuels on the planet and has basically zero regulation. Emitting thousands of times the pollutants every day, but that’s not flashy and doesn’t involve SpaceX which is guaranteed instant clickbait.
I agree by quantity / expected returns (+ playing to the mobs) but we can focus on understanding and improving multiple things at once. This last sentence is also pretty important:
The authors said it is the first time debris from a specific spacecraft disintegration has been traced and measured in the near-space region about 80 to 110 kilometers above Earth. Changes there can affect the stratosphere, where ozone and climate processes operate. Until recent years, human activities had little impact in that region.
Not to mention all the junk that private US companies are launching into orbit without being asked.
That’s kind of captured by their effect during reentry. I’m assuming you’re focusing more on things like light pollution?
I live literally a dozen miles from a launch pad 🫠
My apartment windows rattle from them
Maybe your apartment does that to deter predators…
I’d trade that for living next to the freeway any day of the week.
