The Axiom-1 mission to send four private astronauts to the International Space Station is the first of many missions planned by NASA to expand the ISS for commercial use as part of what's being called the low-Earth orbit economy.
Although total COemissions from this launch will be small in comparison to those from the global aircraft industry, emissions per passenger will be aroundSoot emissions are also much less than those from the aircraft industry, but when released into the middle and upper atmosphere, soot has a warming effectthan at levels closer to Earth. This is in part because there are typically no clouds and few to no aerosols competing with soot to absorb the sun's rays.
The potential opportunities of creating industry and trade networks within low-Earth orbit have been likened by an Axiom co-founder to the early days ofIf we extend that analogy to imagine similarly high levels of access to the low-Earth orbit economy, rocket launches are likely to become far more common than just theSuch a scenario would substantially alter Earth's climate and undermine our significant progress in repairing the ozone layer.