Mitigating Climate changeScientists are examining every possible option to solve the problem of life on Earth.
The latest idea is wild… but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Astronomer István Szapudi, of the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy, reckons we could catch an asteroidPark it in front Earth and attach a parasol so that some of the Sun’s light is blocked.
The solar shield idea is not new. Szapudi’s changes would make the solar shield more affordable and easier to implement.
“In Hawaiʻi, many use an umbrella to block the sunlight as they walk about during the day,” He explains. “I wondered, could we also do this for Earth in order to reduce the imminent catastrophe of climate changes?”
The concept of a solar shieldhas its merits. It’s not without merit. Temperatures risingNot a perfect solution, but one that gives us time to fix the problem on the surface.
The problem is that the sail would need a fair amount of mass as ballast to prevent it from being blown away by the solar wind and radiation pressure, and for gravitational stability – and getting that much mass into space would be difficult and expensive.
What if, however, the mass has already been thrown out? Here’s where the idea of tying a parachute to an asteroid comes into play.
Szapudi calculated by placing a counterbalance toward the Sun in L1 LagrangianReduce the mass of the shield to 3.5 millions tons.
The L1 Lagrangian represents a point of relative gravity stability that is generated by the interaction of Earth and Sun. These Lagrange points are where the gravitational pulls from the Earth and the Sun balance each other out to reduce the amount of adjustment required to remain in the same spot.
Two-body systems have Five LagrangiansL1 lies directly between Earth’s surface and the Sun. Park in a perfect locationA solar shield.
This 3.5 million ton shield might seem like a large mass but is actually 100 times smaller than the previous estimates. The shield would only make up a fraction of this mass, about 35,000 tonnes. The asteroid is the remainder of mass.
With lighter materials like aluminum, it would be possible for the shield to weigh even less. graphene. It would still be pretty tricky to accomplish – current rocket maximum payloadsThere are no more than 35,000 tons.
The current record holder is Saturn VLaunched in, Payload 140 tonsLow-Earth orbit was the era of Apollo. The SpaceX rocket Starship, a behemoth of human engineering, is at the cutting edge. It is a. Top capacityJust 250 metric tonnes.
However, it may be possible to achieve the goal. NASA has demonstrated that we are capable. Redirect an asteroid. Szapudi says that although there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of research and development, if you start now, it may be possible to implement this before the deadline. Climate change is too late. There are also other benefits.
Szapudi says that while it has been calculated that blocking 1 to 2 per cent of the sun’s rays would be sufficient to cool the earth, a “more conservative approach” would use historical data.
Szapudi’s idea is scalable. It can reduce the light as low as 0.24 percent, and then increase it to approximately 1.7 percent. The system would need to be easily reverseable.
A tethered structure could be cheaper and faster to build than a heavier one, depending on the development of orbital, graphene and tether technologies. He writes on his paper.
“However, it could eventually be used as a source of solar energy for Earth or Solar System Exploration.”
The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
