inqury #8

Edited = Edited

Intro all sentences under 25 words

How should we mitigate the effects of rockets on the climate? This is our fertile question for our 8th inquiry. What we are investigating and trying to find out is are rockets polluting the environment. We have investigated this question, and we think we have found how to mitigate the effects that rockets have on the earth’s climate. We have watched the videos about this and have learned a lot about how rockets affect the climate. We have learned about all the different fuels and rockets out there and have compared them to something that is used every day.

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P1 Climate change is when the earth is slowly heating up.

The result of this is the melting of the ice in Antarctica. which is raising the ocean’s water levels which are making coastlines more dangerous. The reason why it is so dangerous is that the water is coming higher up on the banks. Most of this is happening from humans burning fossil fuels. Which is mainly coal and charcoal or even burning rubbish isn’t good for the atmosphere. The reason why is because of all the smoke. Smoke is harder for the earth to break down. That is a big thing that some people in New Zealand don’t understand. This is because almost everyone burns rubbish in their backyards.

P2 RQ2 Alex

Do rocket testing and launching affect climate change?. We have researched this and have found an answer and have the numerical evidence to back this up. What we found out is that yes all the rockets affect the climate. Yes, Falcon 9 and falcon heavy are owned by Elon Musk. He has even admitted to it. Then again he also says that there is no way to get around the fact that rockets contribute to climate change. We have found some numerical data that compares rockets to planes. So we decided that the effect rockets have is a worry but not that much.

P3

The manufacturer of rocket company.For example, space x they use materials that damage the atmosphere.They damge the atmosphere when they are made when they get built.it eemits CO2 because it needs to withstand reentry into our atmosphere if it is coming back. It is still damaging the atmosphere while the launch from burning rocket fuel.Aswell as the other chemicals it releases. Well most of the smoke is just vaporized water. During a launch nasa came up with the idea to use water as a noise suppression system. So they dump 1 million gallons of water during the launch. Which creates a big cloud of steam that dissipates once the ship gets further and further away.

P4 RQ4 Alex

You might be wondering how does the launch of rockets affects the climate. Well it is mostly from the CO2 emitted making the rockets. Some of it is also due to the chemicals in the rockets. What we mean by chemicals in the rockets.We mean the enormous amounts of fuel needed to lift off. The worst things for the climate is the solid rocket booster. (The two big white things on the space shuttle). These are the best for providing lift. Then on the other hand they are not so good for the environment. They are the only known rockets things to leave such a big smoke cloud behind them.

P5

What causes rockets to affect the climate/environment. Rockets affect climate change with all the different gases. Such as jet fuel chlorine and the powerful thrust it lets off on launch. Which causes the big smokey cloud. We have worked out that most of the stuff in the cloud is vaporized water. Then there is a small percentage of it is other chemicals that are harmful to the environment. Then on the other hand we don’t launch rockets enough to cause a huge effect. Most of the time airlines will cause a lot more damage. This is because there are millions of plane flights yearly but there were just above 100 launches in 2018. But there were 1 million-plus commercial flights in 2018 and if you compare the carbon emissions to rockets. You will planes have a way bigger carbon emission than rockets.

P6 RQ6 Alex

What rocket causes the most devastation to the climate? Well, this question was a hard one to answer but we did find the answer. We found the right guy and the right video and from there on it was pretty easy. You would think that it cant be from smallest to biggest but in this case. It is for the most of it the biggest polluter out of all the rockets is Saturn V.The reason why the Sartun v is the biggest polluter is that back then during the apollo missions. People didn’t know how much rockets are affecting the climate.

P7

What are some ways we can slow down the effects of rockets? We can do this by testing different gases that aren’t as harmful as the current gases/chemicals. The chemicals we are currently using can be harmful but there may be alternative chemicals that we can use. There is always the fact that rockets aren’t having a big effect on the climate already.That is because there isn’t a very big amount of rockets being launched a year. On average is there 100+ rockets launched per year. Not including 2020 because of Covid.

P8 RQ8 Alex

Some of the long-term effects that rockets have on climate change. The reason why we ask this is that we want to find out. Is it just a short-term (a couple of years) thing? So we found out what the chemicals in the fuel are and what they do. Some of these are emitted every day. We found CO2 the main everyday thing. The other chemicals we found are things like alumina and NOx and a bunch of other things. They all reflect sunlight sometimes stopping the UV rays from coming in. Then again it also 100% of the time keeps UV rays in causing climate change.

P9

So our solution we have searched through all the solutions and have chosen to go with. A bio propane fuel the reason why is because it cuts down CO2 emissions by 90%. We also need to find some chemicals that don’t cause short-term effects or long-term effects. For example, CO2 and NOx are neither good nor want to find chemicals that can be put in the gas. To do the same thing as the chemicals they are currently using. That is because to achieve orbit of the earth or to even lift off. The rocket has to produce double the weight of itself in force.

This numerical data here shows the rocket launches in 2018 the most ever recorded. On the other hand the number of commercial flights in 2018. This shows that the effects of rockets are minimal compared to the CO2 that comes out of the countless flights. We have each year this also goes to show that we need to find a different solution. To the CO2 planes emmit because the number of flights is insane. Then the rockets only just make the 100 launches over a year so it is hard. That leaves us with the choice of whether or not we deal with rockets or with planes first.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, we want to use bio propane or gas for fuel. Which cuts down the CO2 emissions by about 90% so that is pretty good. We also should find or maybe even make some more chemicals that don’t affect the climate. Then we would need to see if they are an effective fuel for rockets. That is what we have found out about how rockets affect climate change. We would also need to find out if we are doing badly while solving the problem. We did try to contact an expert but they did not respond.