In parallel with the growing interest in rocket cosmonautics in connection with the successes of SpaceX and other aerospace corporations, the topic of environmental «footprint» from the frequent flights into space is becoming more actual in the society. Large Western portals about science and technology are increasingly paying attention not only to, but also to alternative concepts, including the idea of Anatoliy Yunitskiy – General Planetary Vehicle, which was written about not so long ago.
Nature-safe ways of space exploration will give humanity not only a «global Internet» and a system of precise positioning, but will also allow to bring the industry into the Earth orbit asit is proposed to do by Anatoliy Yunitskiy.
The actuality of non-rocket space exploration topic was emphasized on the portal Technology.org, where :
Different kinds of transportation technologies are currently experiencing a huge boost in popularity, especially considering the latest trends of global warming, a phenomenon which now seems almost irreversible. With this in mind, lowering emissions and the overall carbon footprint is important as never before.
The global market slowly responds to this new reality. For example, humanity is slowly but steadily transitioning towards green consumer vehicles, there are plans to heavily innovate our trucking and marine shipping industry, and there are also some noticeable innovations in civil aviation.
Situation in the space exploration sector is a little bit different. Of course, there are plenty of innovations being introduced each year, and if we calculate just the carbon dioxide and water vapor emissions they are quite tiny compared to other industrial sources. But still, there are some solid opinions stating that the current rocket-based space launch technology is literally obsolete and essentially needs to be replaced by revolutionary new approaches.
This problematic issue was recently highlighted by a president and leading engineer of SkyWay company, which specializes in new types of public transportation. In his Open Letter published on the company’s website, Anatoliy Yunitskiy criticizes some underlying aspects of modern space launch technologies, pointing out some overlooked negative long-term effects and emphasizing the need not just to innovate, but also to find radically new ways to minimize our use of rocket engines by replacing them with more efficient and environmentally-friendlier solutions.