Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!sdcc6!beowulf!schraudo From: schraudo@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Nici Schraudolph) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Space Shuttle and the Ozone layer Message-ID: Date: 26 Jul 90 02:13:39 GMT References: <34371@ut-emx.UUCP> <9391@goofy.Apple.COM> Sender: news@sdcc6.ucsd.edu Distribution: na Lines: 44 Nntp-Posting-Host: beowulf.ucsd.edu heksterb@apple.com (Ben Hekster) writes: >Yeah, and we all know how much good the Russians are doing the atmosphere >by launching those hundreds upon hundreds of spy satellites which they >can't keep in orbit for more than a couple of weeks. Nice to know that >they have such an interest in our space program, though. Are these satellites launched with solid fuels, or with hydrogen/oxygen? Please don't post such knee-jerk responses without supplying facts to back them up. Mr. Bettadpur has been so kind to share some interesting (and if true, quite frightening) facts with us, and I am hoping to see an intelligent follow-up discussion on the truth behind these figures. In particular, I'd appreciate comments on the following aspects: 1) Are the tonnages of released chemicals correct? Is the classification fine enough to assess ozone damage from it, or do we need to treat a host of combustion products each individually? 2) Is the tonnage of destroyed ozone correct? Moreover, does it make sense at all to make such a direct implication, discounting a host of phenomena (eg. spatial and temporal distribution of combustion products & ozone)? 3) Does the "300 shuttle trips = 1 ozone layer" equation take into account that the ozone layer is a dynamical system, with ozone continually being created and destroyed? The statement "300 shuttles starting simultaneously and dispersing their exhausts evenly and instantaneously = 1 ozone layer" is far less scary, especially at the rate at which NASA is launching shuttles these days... :-( On the other hand, dynamical systems can also amplify small perturbations - how much is known about the stability of the ozone layer as a dynamical system? From the articles I've read it seems rather well-behaved, unlike the runaway greenhouse effect. 4) Finally, politics: are there Environmental Impact Reports on NASA activities such as rocket launches, or has NASA a special exempt status? Does anybody in this group have access to an EIR on shuttle launches? Care to post a summary? -- Nici Schraudolph, C-014 nschraudolph@ucsd.edu University of California, San Diego nschraudolph@ucsd.bitnet La Jolla, CA 92093 ...!ucsd!nschraudolph