Worldwide Rocket Launch Emissions 2019: An Inventory for Use in Global Models

Abstract

Abstract The rate of rocket launches is accelerating, driven by the rapid global development of the space industry. Rocket launches emit gases and particulates into the stratosphere, where they impact the ozone layer via radiative and chemical processes. We create a three‐dimensional per‐vehicle inventory of stratospheric emissions, accounting for flight profiles and all major fuel types in active use (solid, kerosene, cryogenic and hypergolic). In 2019, stratospheric (15–50 km) rocket launch emissions were 5.82 Gg CO2, 6.38 Gg H2O, 0.28 Gg black carbon, 0.22 Gg nitrogen oxides, 0.50 Gg reactive chlorine and 0.91 Gg particulate alumina. The geographic locations of launch sites are preserved in the inventory, which covers all active launch sites in 2019. We also report the emissions data from contemporary vehicles that were not launched in 2019, so that users have freedom to construct their own launch activity scenarios. A subset of the inventory—stratospheric emissions for successful launches in 2019—is freely available and formatted for direct use in global chemistry‐climate or Earth system models.

Keywords

• ozone
• rocket launches
• emissions inventory
• stratosphere
• ozone layer
• aerospace