Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!umich!dgsi!gregc
From: gregc@cimage.com (Greg Cronau)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: The shuttle is destroying the ozone layer?
Message-ID: <1990Oct23.030624.7555@cimage.com>
Date: 23 Oct 90 03:06:24 GMT
References: <143360@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <10314.2711c063@pbs.org> <1990Oct10.221645.29969@pmafire.UUCP> <1990Oct19.022310.14985@midway.uchicago.edu>
Reply-To: gregc@dgsi.UUCP (Greg Cronau/10000)
Organization: Cimage Corp, Ann Arbor, MI
Lines: 29

In article <1990Oct19.022310.14985@midway.uchicago.edu> esm1@quads.uchicago.edu (Eric S. Mendelsohn) writes:
>I'm sorry if this subject has been discussed to death, but I'm new to this news
>group and couldn't find many old posts.  If someone has a collection of answers
>to these questions, please e-mail 'em and earn my gratitude!
>
>I heard the other day that each shuttle launch releases an enormous quantity
>of ozone-destroying gasses into the upper atmosphere, and according to one 
>(believable?) study, the current flight schedule will cause 10% of the pro-
>jected ozone depletion in the next 5 (or 10?) years.  Anyone know the facts

Yes, this subject was done to death awhile back.
The facts, as I understand them, are:
1.) Clourine (CL) can destroy ozone by combining with it.
2.) CFCs (ClouroFlouroCarbons) can destroy ozone at a *MUCH* greater rate due
    to the fact that the mechanism by which CFCs destroy ozone is catalytic.
    That is, the CFCs are NOT consumed by the reaction, and a given CFC
    molecule can destroy many ozone molecules before it is itself destroyed
    by other processes. I believe that a given quantity of CFC has several
    orders of magnitude more destructive capacity than the same quanity of CL,
    when it comes to the break-down of ozone.
3.) The shuttle's SRBs produce Hydroclouric acid (HCL) *NOT* CFCs.
4.) The writer of the report failed to make any distiction between the HCL
    released by the SRBs and the ozone damage caused by CFCs. He treated CFC
    and HCL as equally damaging.

In short, in the opinion of most of the people on the net, the report had no
basis in fact.

gregc@cimage.com