11 - Operations and Sustainment
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVE LAUNCH METHODS
S. Wildermuth¹, W. Veraburenon¹, T. Bellier¹, C. Bil¹; ¹RMIT University, Australia
This paper presents a life cycle assessment technique that can be used to model the environmental impact of launch systems with a case study on the launch methods utilized by Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. These two systems have been selected as they are both suborbital craft with the primary goal of providing a space tourism experience.