What goes up , might not be a downer

Well, not as much of one.

What, exactly, makes a rocket fuel environmentally friendly?

I think, as with many headlines, adding an 'er' might be more accurate.

But any step in the right direction must be welcome.

At least it seems a tad more credible than some of the claims made by such as Virgin Galactic (and which have attracted a few eyebrow cranks of mine).

Exploration is necessary, so mitigating the consequences is the best option.

The bigger picture

Another, new(ish) poster has suggested this link (just email info@junkk.com with anything and I'll get it eventually).

Views of Jupiter

Having had a gander such things are most certainly worth sharing, not just for the visual joy they bring, but to also help us position ourselves more humbly in the great scheme of things.

I noticed some bloggers replying that they wished they could live there. Can you imagine? How long before our race had to move on again, having...

Addendum:

As we are of a naturally poetic bent today, and I am feeling naughty but NASA:

Trendwatcher: northern-lights-explained-nasa

Newsnight - worth it for all sorts of related reasons... unanswered questions on helping posters add functions, despite promises, and unanswered questions on pay deals because, well, what goes up stays up. Some live on different planets, I guess.

CATEGORY - Space Tourism

As an SF-addict, engineer a reacher for the stars creator-type, I am in awe of every development.

As one who has also bought into the notion that at the moment we have a bit of a gas problem, I find myself on the horns of a dilemma.

Best to make it a category, post what's out there and maybe we can all decide.

WSJ - Economy Fare ( $100,000) Lifts Space-Tourism Race

Gaurdian - NEW - Virgin Galactic: Richard Branson's pledge to prospective space tourists

And this being the right-on Grauniad, as part of the franchise, and commercial (was it paid for? If not, then big up to Mr. Branson for pulling a fast one on the ad sales guys via editorial), I look forward to the breathless gushing announcement of Virgin Space of Waste Carbon Offsets soon, too.

I guess saying 'more environmental' several times must make it so.

In case not, I wonder if any pictures from this £200k Kodak moment afforded the attractive collection of rich folk featured might capture the Earth weeping?

ps; Check Space, Tourism and Virgin Galactic at the least in the labels at end for more

Lunar Dead Centre

Directly following a piece on the splitting of an ice shelf 'due to Global Warming', irony-free zone that is the BBC has just aired a piece on... commercial air travel.

I have now seen it, and see no reason to change what I wrote in advance:

'Looking forward to how the advertised piece on burying one's ashes on the moon is shared.

Whilst exchange may be no robbery, dust for dust, bearing in mind the fuel cost for every gram sent into orbit, I just wonder what the carbon consequences might be?'

Seemed worth a Newswatch serve:

Directly following a piece on the splitting of an ice shelf 'due to Global Warming', and followed by another plastic bag expose (how did David Shuckman get to Midway Island, by the way? Nice work if you can get it)* the irony-free zone that is the BBC has just aired a piece on... commercial space travel.

The commercial relationship is uncomfortable enough, but the mixed messages being pumped out on best environmental practices by consumers is staggering.

Next you'll have a reporter gushing forth with Richard Branson together on the first Virgin Galactic launch!

ADDENDA -

BBC - Antarctic shelf 'hangs by thread'

BBBC - It seems it has been noted elsewhere, and it appears the airlines are doing well out of... plastic bags. Medium and messenger...hmnnn.

*BBBC - NEW - And lo... the jolly was good.

You can see where this might lead

And hence I do no more than share... Scientists find hot spot on Saturn's chilly pole

The problem: as clear as day...to night

As I watch the BBC 'environmental' 'correspondent' faithfully relate Mr. Brown's pearls of wisdom (apparently, he's going to make it easier to ban plastic bags as a point worthy of note!!), check this.

I just got it from a very dear, and talented, relative the other side of the world, who gives credibility to 'senior surfer' in all its accolades. She finds awesome stuff and sends it on!

It's from a PowerPoint of views from a space mission. Let me know if you'd like me to send it on. My only caveat is the provenance is unverified, so it's unclear whether anything has been 'enhanced'. I'd say it looks about right, though.

Or... maybe I can post it here??? IT-vestigator hat on.

What goes up

This from via Brand Strategy's trends and news for September : DESIGN SPACE

The final frontier is getting closer for Virgin Galactic which unveiled its design for the world’s first spaceport this month. The design is the product of a partnership between global engineering design firm URS Corporation and London architects Foster + Partners and has ‘green’ credentials.

Please, please, could someone explain the association of 'green credentials' in a story about a spaceport to help punt a half dozen zillionaires into low orbit atop a cloud of [what? Last time I heard it wasn't nice stuff] just to have a Kodak moment.

Space. At a mall near you.

Ok, so you need to get to the USA first.

Into space - on a shuttle simulator

Love it. I hope this may be required reading for all billionaires
considering Virgin Galactic, whose contributions to atmospheric
emissions doesn't seem likely to be very positive to global warming.

ps: Is that the guy from Life on Mars? Appropriate if it is, considering
the topic

Space, the final...solution?

I'd already posted on this baby, but in reviewing the posts (a lot, but some good ones, so I broke my 'no more than 100' rule) I found I might have been hasty in my critique of our reaching for the stars efforts. Well, at least the punting rich geezers up there bit , anyway.

As there are some here who seem to know, I would like to tap into the collective intellectual resource being brought to bear to help me with a question.

For a while I have been perhaps a tad less than fair to one Mr. R Branson in having doubts on his claimed green campaigns - towing planes to take-off (did that ever happen?), biofuel-powered planes (could that ever happen?) and £25M eco-prizes (does that include waiving the rights to profit sharing?) - especially when one of his highest profile current extravaganzas seems to be sending rich tourists into space atop what I had thought to be a massive column of greenhouse gasses.

Now it seems that I may have been unjust, and it's all 'just' (I have to presume there's a smidge of energy in the production, and possibly a tad of pollution still involved in the combustion) oxygen and hydrogen, though I also do recall steam to be considered a greenhouse gas.

We have a most helpful earlier offering as regards Ariane, but can anyone enlighten me as to what other space borne efforts, including Virgin Galactic, actually do consume and exhaust?

ADDENDUM:

One of the (many) frustrations of a moderated system is that Qs can cross with As, and debates can get a tad jumbled. A classic of the former has just happened here, and I pretty much got my answer in an overlap. Fortunately, it seems my usual admittance of bozoness, combined with a quest for answers, was not far off the right track. Unless this latest guy is wrong, I guess. He doesn't sound like he would be, though.

Nothing like a nice bit of PR support for the media

The final frontier for travel insurance

You may also wish to include cover for flight delays in case any Guardian readers (and reporters) who don't see the irony of supporting rich folk having a Kodak moment atop a column of greenhouse gasses, whilst thinking Greenpeace chaining themselves to a Land Rover production line was a neat idea, suddenly see the value of single standards.

Space, the final affront?

Hawking to get brief experience of weightlessness on space flight

As an eminent scientist, one can only presume he will be taking his place to further our understanding of the planet and the changes it faces, say, in climate.

If it were just space tourism or a cheap PR gimmick it would be harder to justify as I doubt this thing is powered by rubber bands or even biodiesel.

The richer are different to you and I. They attract more leeches.

I stumbled across this.

I almost wished I hadn't. Almost.

Beam me up, Sir Richard... why space tourism is no longer a sci-fi fantasy

Well, golly. How sooooooper, for you.

And any of this serves anyone, especially the planet... how?

Sickening.

Don't pity me on Petit St Vincent

Fly me to the moon. Or Not.

I have no problem with reasonable expenditures of pretty much anything in the cause of science.

Get a rich lard-a**se a better view... less so.

I’d like a ticket to New York by hypersonic space rocket, please

"The two organisations would research hybrid rocket motors, which
use both solid and liquid fuel and are safer and more efficient than
solid fuel rocket engines."

Just asking, but by 'more efficient' what is meant by that?

Will it mean a kilo of person or cargo will get to the destination
for a lower carbon commitment?

Or not?

And if not, this is a commitment to global warming how exactly?

Gush, gush journalism at its best.