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The debate聽on聽billionaire聽鈥渟pace tourism鈥�,聽the increasingly popular industry of recreational flights into space,聽has seen extensive media coverage聽-聽particularly聽as Star Trek actor William Shatner became the oldest person to聽journey聽into space聽as part of Jeff Bezos鈥檚 Blue Origin聽project earlier this month.

Dr Marais, Associate Professor of Physical Geography,聽studies the聽impact of聽fossil聽fuels and industries on the atmosphere. She and聽Rob Ryan, research fellow聽in her group,聽have聽been running聽a聽decade-long聽simulation聽to figure out聽if聽emissions from rockets聽could聽compete with traditional sources.

She聽appeared聽on Sky News (below) on 15th聽October, where she said:聽鈥淚t聽undermines the sacrifices聽we鈥檙e trying to make on Earth to make sure we mitigate the impact that we鈥檙e having on the environment, while rich billionaires are flying out into space聽for very expensive selfies."

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Dr Marais聽also appeared on聽聽following tech聽billionaire聽Jared聽Isaacman鈥檚聽four-person聽SpaceX聽flight in September,聽the first orbital spaceflight to consist only of private citizens.

She聽said:聽鈥淚t鈥檚 roughly 100 times more CO2聽emissions per passenger from the SpaceX launch than a typical transatlantic flight.

鈥淭he biggest concern is the potential impact on the stratospheric ozone layer 鈥� there are certain pollutants that,聽when injected directly into that layer, can lead to ozone destruction.

鈥淭here really needs to be an international effort聽to develop regulation to at least mitigate the impact this nascent industry could have on the atmosphere.鈥�

Dr Marais was聽invited to present聽her聽research on the environmental impact of the space tourism industry at the Harvard Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry seminar series on 1 October.

This year, she will teach聽Environmental Consequences of Human Activity,聽a new third-year physical geography module聽in which students will learn about the sources and fate of environmental contaminants, the negative impacts on the environment, and approaches adopted to repair and prevent damage to the environment.

• Visit Dr Marias' Staff Profile