The U.S. government sounds like it took a huge bong rip and dared ask the question no one really cared to ask or even wanted answered: What if America’s abandoned offshore oil rigs became rocket launch pads?
As reported by The Washington Post, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management recently requested public feedback on whether inactive oil and gas platforms in federal waters could be repurposed for commercial space launches, spacecraft re-entry, and recovery operations. No official policy has been proposed yet, and there’s no clear indication that plans of any kind are moving forward, but the simple act of requesting public feedback reflects the acknowledgment of a growing need to quickly expand the country’s roster of rocket launch sites as the commercial space industry rapidly expands.
It’s not the most far-fetched idea, but whether or not people will go for it is another matter. Between 1999 and 2014, an international project called Sea Launch fired dozens of rockets from what had once been an oil platform. One big advantage of a rocket launch pad at sea is that there are no nearby communities that are at risk if something goes wrong. Ocean life, sure, but humans just trying to live a life in a launchpad-adjacent neighborhood don’t really have to worry.
Some Are Concerned About Turning Oil Rigs Into Launch Pads
But that’s not what critics are concerned about.
Environmental groups argue that this is all just a convenient way for oil companies to avoid truly decommissioning their offshore rigs. A rig that was, for instance, decommissioned for environmental reasons can just be handed over to a different industry with all new environmental concerns, as any potential conversions would turn public waters into industrial zones.
Turning an oil rig into a launchpad is undeniably a clever bit of recycling, but we all know what happens when we cede power to industry, and we seemingly haven’t gotten better at cleaning up the messes of industry. Do we want those messes to pollute our oceans? Or will we let big business do what it wants in the name of however it defines progress? It’s a dialogue we’ll likely be having quite a bit in the years to come, and this feedback request from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is just the icebreaker.