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Saturday, March 13, 2010

Photo: Rocket Launches Damage Ozone Layer, Study Says


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A solid-fuel plume from an Atlas IIAS intercontinental ballistic missile zigzags through the stratosphere in an undated picture taken from a high-altitude NASA aircraft, whose crew was collecting data on ozone loss in the plume.

A March 2009 study suggests the growth in rocket launches could be bad news for Earth's ozone layer, which absorbs harmful solar rays.

Photograph courtesy NASA