Space flight no risk to environment

More than 500 people have already reserved seats - and paid deposits on the US$200,000 ticket - for a minutes-long suborbital flight on the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) set to begin by the end of this year.

"We have reduced the (carbon emission) cost of somebody going into space from something like two weeks of New York's electricity supply to less than the cost of a economy round-trip from Singapore to London," Branson told reporters in Singapore.

The founder of the diversified Virgin group was in the South-east Asian city-state to attend a summit organised by the Carbon War Room, an environmental charity organisation he founded in 2009.

"New technology can dramatically reduce the carbon output and that is the challenge we have set ourselves," added Branson.

The SS2's lightweight carbon-fibre body will "reduce fuel burn dramatically", he said.

The SS2, with two pilots, is designed to be launched by a transport plane called White KnightTwo and will be guided by a rocket motor before gliding back to Earth.

Branson, whose Virgin group includes airlines Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, said the aviation industry could do more to cut its carbon output and shift to cleaner fuels.

Rising carbon emissions caused by industry, transport and deforestation have been blamed for global warming.

"If you have clean fuels, you've got a competitor to the dirty fuels and you could hopefully reduce the cost of the fuel, which means you can reduce the price of the ticket," he said.

Branson's Virgin Group and Virgin Green Fund announced plans last year to form a US$200m emerging markets fund with Russia's Rosnano Capital to invest in innovations and green technologies.

The Carbon War Room, which he founded with other global entrepreneurs, aims to empower industries to find market-based incentives to reduce carbon emissions.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge