A sharp increase in the number of patients with coronavirus has put space launches in the United States at risk. This is written by Bloomberg.
It is noted that the surge in the incidence of COVID-19 has increased the consumption of liquid oxygen used both for the operation of artificial ventilation devices (ventilators) and for rocket launches. Its redirection to American hospitals has created a shortage of fuel necessary for the space industry.
NASA has already announced its intention to postpone the launch of the next satellite for a week, and the president of the American company SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell, appealed to organizations that have a supply of liquid oxygen, with a request to contact the company's management about supplies. At the same time, the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, said that the situation with the provision of oxygen fuel is "a risk, but not yet a limiting factor" for space launches.
In early August, the number of detected cases of COVID-19 in the United States reached a six-month high. On August 4, more than 100 thousand infected people were detected in the country per day. According to experts, the "delta" variant of the infection attacked several states with low vaccination rates at once.
Georgy Nesterov
