Believe it or not, the question of whether launching a car, specifically a Jetta TDI, into space for atmospheric re-entry is environmentally sound is not as absurd as it initially sounds. In fact, when considering the long-term impact of driving a vehicle versus its fiery demise from orbit, some surprising factors emerge.
The Volkswagen emissions scandal, which came to light in 2009 and affected models like the Jetta TDI, revealed a concerning truth about automotive pollution. While your 2000 Jetta TDI predates the cheating software, it doesn’t necessarily equate to lower emissions. Since the 1970s, the US has progressively tightened regulations on smog-forming exhaust gases such as nitric oxide. By the mid-2000s, the cost of compliance without compromising performance led Volkswagen to implement “defeat devices” to pass emissions tests, deceiving both regulators and consumers about the true environmental footprint of their vehicles, including the Jetta TDI.
Eliminating tailpipe emissions is one immediate benefit of incinerating your Jetta TDI during atmospheric re-entry. Putting your car into orbit and allowing it to burn up like space debris would certainly put an end to its ground-level pollution output.
However, this scenario introduces a new form of environmental impact: space debris. The incineration of your Jetta TDI would scatter fragments throughout the stratosphere. The crucial question then becomes: what are the atmospheric effects of such space debris? Surprisingly, the scientific community lacks a definitive answer. Daily, a significant piece of space debris, like a defunct satellite or rocket booster, re-enters Earth’s atmosphere. While we often use the term “burn up,” complete disintegration is a misnomer. Substantial fragments often survive re-entry and reach the ground, typically landing in oceans or uninhabited areas. The finer dust and particulate matter disperse throughout the stratosphere, and the comprehensive environmental consequences remain largely unknown.
Furthermore, the sonic boom generated by your Jetta TDI during re-entry would produce nitric oxide, temporarily creating a minor depletion in the ozone layer. While this sounds alarming, the resulting “hole” would be short-lived and insignificant compared to broader ozone depletion issues.
Interestingly, while the ozone layer impact is minimal and fleeting, launching your Jetta TDI into space could offer a benefit in terms of global warming. Over its remaining lifespan, driving your car for another hundred thousand miles would release an estimated 20 to 30 tons of carbon dioxide. While the fiery destruction of your car during re-entry does release carbon into the atmosphere, the quantity is far less than what continued driving would generate.
The most significant environmental cost in this hypothetical scenario isn’t re-entry itself, but rather the rocket launch required to place the Jetta TDI into orbit. Rocket launches have a considerably larger environmental footprint than re-entry, although their overall impact is still relatively small due to the infrequent nature of launches.
This thought experiment leads to a more outlandish, yet thought-provoking question: how did your Jetta TDI end up in orbit in the first place? Is it a solitary incident, or have all cars been inexplicably teleported into space? If the latter were true, the consequences of mass car re-entry become a serious concern.
While the probability of being struck by a single piece of falling satellite debris is statistically low, the sheer volume of passenger cars – hundreds of millions in the United States alone – changes the equation dramatically. If all these vehicles were launched into orbit and subsequently re-entered, the likelihood of casualties from falling engine blocks, transmissions, and partially melted car parts would rise significantly, potentially injuring or killing hundreds to thousands of people.
However, when juxtaposed with the grim reality of road traffic fatalities, the space-car scenario takes another unexpected turn. Approximately thirty thousand Americans die annually in motor vehicle accidents. Therefore, while launching all cars into space and letting them fall back to Earth sounds catastrophic…
…it could arguably be considered safer than continuing to drive them on our roads, highlighting the profound and complex environmental and safety trade-offs inherent in our reliance on automobiles like the Jetta TDI and the broader implications of transportation in the modern age.
