The Scottish National Party has recently called for an RAF airbase in Moray to become the UK's first commercial spaceport. Put all those Star Trek fantasies out of your mind: once you take into account the impact of running a space station the eco-impacts go into orbit. Will Whitethorn, President of Virgin Intergalactic, described the total environmental cost per launch of your average NASA rocket as the same as that of New York over a weekend.
NASA launches space shuttles twice a year; Virgin wants to have 2 flights per day. Space travel is not covered in the climate change act, so the Government is just pretending the emissions don't exist. They must want to turn Scotland into a playground for international jetsetters. Flights on one of the shuttles will cost somewhere in the region of £150,000, far beyond the reach of most Scottish citizens.
Politicians are living on another planet if they think that they can cop out of our commitment to deal with climate change. Going over our carbon budget will have a devestating impact on our citizens. The problem is that they get caught up in these mad schemes for super golf courses and magic spaceports. Perhaps they are betting that when climate change kicks in they'll have a seat on one of Virgin's rockets out of here.
