Richard Branson’s space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, is to use its space planes to gather scientific data on climate change from the highest reaches of the atmosphere under a new collaboration with an American government laboratory.

One listen to this news and my wife, a mathematician of no little talent, said: “It’s like greenwashing Schrodinger’s Cat!”

“Do what?” I hear you say (unless you understand this kind of stuff). To put it another way, Richard Branson is using something that is inevitably extremely environmentally unfriendly in order to collect data about environmental conditions. Not quantum in itself, but the special thing about this is that in the process of collecting the data, the high-altitude launch craft which will carry the equipment will be changing the environment themselves, such that it will be impossible to gain a picture of environmental conditions using this method, without changing the environment in some way.

Isn’t that inevitable, though? Well, I wouldn’t mind so much if it wasn’t just another desperate attempt by Virgin Galactic to improve the appearance of their environmental credentials; but Virgin have a long and appalling history of environmental hypocrisy, from their “more efficient” Virgin Atlantic aircraft, to their ill-conceived biofuel plane, to Branson’s $25m prize for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (I’ve heard that forests are quite good at that, Rich), which makes this just another bit of greenwashing.

Let’s get this straight: Virgin Galactic is a leisure space craft – nothing more, nothing less. Whatever is said in the fancy brochures and films, it’s a service for very rich people to spend their money on: money that almost certainly came from screwing the planet by running or funding a profit hungry company.

Looks good, doesn’t it? I particularly like the bit around 6’30” which pushes the “Environmentally Friendly” agenda, taken forward on the official web site:

Space access and exploration is and will continue to be a key component in our ability to understand, measure and better manage the effects of climate change on earth. Already, much of the early evidence of the causes and effects of a warming planet has been derived from satellite technology not to mention its fundamental impact on meeting the basic requirements of a burgeoning global population. However, the technology that still delivers payloads and people to space has a high negative environmental impact and has remained essentially unchanged for half a century. Virgin Galactic is investing in a space access system that is radically different from what’s gone before and many times more environmentally friendly. This, and the future technology that it inspires, will allow man to continue to reap space related environmental benefits without making an unacceptable contribution to the environmental problem. Additionally, Virgin Galactic’s New Mexico Spaceport is being designed to take all its energy requirements from renewable sources. It is often claimed that the modern environmental movement can be traced back to “Blue Marble” photograph of the Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972 and now one of the most widely distributed images of all time. Certainly, many astronauts of the past 45 years have returned to earth as confirmed environmentalists. We believe that the Virgin Galactic experience will have the same impact on many of those who travel with us, providing an important increase in environmental awareness and pressure for change.

Bollocks!