@chris_hayes @mike All I can think of are all of the toxic gases being created and the potential for damage from falling debris. We're at a point where there are so many launches and so many satellites, they need to be regulated and there needs to be severe fines (or fees) for using our thin atmosphere as a garbage dump. Additionally, each launch should be required to buy carbon offsets. I'm not a big fan of offset markets, but I know of no other way to neutralize the release of CO2.

@elaterite @mike I'm a big fan of the carbon offset idea (understanding that carbon offsets are not perfect). As a rocket fan, I know a lot of rocket people will point out that the airplane industry pollutes magnitudes more.

But, the focus should really be on solving problems not trying to assign blame. The rocket industry should be offseting all of the environmental harms it is creating, and so should the airline industry.

@chris_hayes @mike Regarding CO2 offsets: I'm physiocrat. CO2 needs to be displaced with energy efficiency, democratizing renewable energies, & programs that use EVs as storage for the grid. (V2G a la Dr. Kempton at UDel. The Rocky Mtn Institute called it Smart Garage a couple of decades ago.) It blows my mind how much people fly. My problem with offset & renewable energy credit markets is the financial/trading/middlemen. They aren't producing physical solutions. They just milk the system. 2/2

@elaterite @mike ah, cool dad

@chris_hayes @mike I sure wish he had lived long enough to see a Falcon booster return to its pad. It would have blown his mind! At White Sands & later with Bumper 8, the 1st rocket launched from the Cape, they were the 1st two stage rockets: a V2 with a WAC Corporeal second stage. Most of them blew up on the pad. But some flew & now look where we are! I just want to throw up when I think of the owners of those private companies, though. Very sad. What a wonderful legacy they have squandered.