Oxygen Shortages
Delayed
Rocket Launches
WHEN FLORIDA had a COVID surge, it caused a
shortage of liquid oxygen for people in intensive
care. Part of the supply chain for liquid oxygen was
moved over to compensate for it, and that impacted
about half a dozen rocket launches. Florida was the
source of the need for oxygen, but it pulled
resources from the entire country.
We [United Launch Alliance] had a planned
launch going off the West Coast, out of Vandenberg
Space Force Base in California. We had seen the
issue starting in Florida, and we stocked up on liquid
oxygen ahead of time.
But we were sur-
prised when we could
not get liquid nitro-
gen. By then all the
trucks that could
move cryogenic liq-
uids, and the people
who could drive them,
had gone to Florida.
It was kind of a
funny opportunity
for SpaceX and us
to almost help each
other. I did not have
any nitrogen on the
West Coast, and they
had a shortage of liq-
uid oxygen on the
East Coast. I think Gwynne Shotwell [president and
chief operating officer of SpaceX] and I had a con-
ference somewhere together, and I said, “Hey, I’ve
got this giant tank of liquid oxygen that was for a
launch several months away. I’d be happy to make
that available to you.” She replied, “Well, I’ve got a
bunch of nitrogen out on the West Coast that I
could loan you.” We were arranging to trade this
material when our respective teams solved the
problems locally, so we ended up not having to
do it. I was actually a little disappointed because
it would have been fun.
I doubt we will face a crisis quite that acute
again, but it did reveal the weak links in that
supply chain. We had a shortage of drivers with
the special training and certification to drive liquid
cryogenics around. Now that we understand
that this is a vulnerability, we have more people
certified than are needed at any time.Tor y Bruno is an aerospace engineer and chief executive officer
of United Launch Alliance, one of the world’s largest space
launch companies.Illustration by James OlsteinIllustration by James Olstein
cameras, excluding the possibility
of discussion. And with only two
seats assigned for national dele-
gates in each negotiating room, of-
ficials were denied access to need-
ed technical backup.
All told, the fossil-fuels sector
had an outsize influence on a con-
ference that should have been
about curtailing its damaging ac-
tivities. There were a whopping
503 representatives of fossil-fuel
companies, more than any nation’s
delegation, and no participants at
all from 11 out of 14 Pacific Island
states, which are the worst affect-
ed by climate change. The voices of
those living in sacrifice zones and
demanding real climate action—
keeping fossil fuels in the ground—
were shut out. The outcome was a
lot of hot air, which did not even
include a pledge to phase out coal.
Disproportionately impacting
those who already suffer the most
and will continue to suffer the
most, pandemic-era exclusions
mean that multilateral events can
no longer be counted on to solve
the existential challenges con-
fronting the world. Instead COVID
is enabling the entrenchment of
exploitative and false solutions to
impending catastrophes.