Could a giant umbrella in space help solve the climate crisis?

This is what we have arrived at.

With the Earth at its point hotter of history, and humans doing everything they can to stop their overheating, a small but growing number of astronomers and physicists propose a potential solution that could leap straight out of the pages of science fiction: the equivalent of a giant beach umbrella, floating in space.

The idea is to create a huge sunshade and send it to a distant point between the Earth and the Sun to block a small amount but crucial quantity of solar radiation, sufficient to counteract global warming.

Scientists have calculated that if you block something less than 2% of solar radiation, it would be enough to cool the planet by 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 Fahrenheit, and keep Earth within about manageable climate limits.

The idea has remained on the fringes of conversations about climate solutions for years.

But as the climate crisis worsens, interest in solar shields is gaining momentum, and more researchers are proposing variants.

There is also a foundation dedicated to promotion solar shields.

A recent study conducted by University of Utah explored the dispersion of dust in space, while a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studies the creation of a shield made in “space bubbles“.

Last summer, Istvan Szapudi, astronomer at University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy, published a paper suggesting attaching a large solar shield to a repurposed asteroid.

Now, scientists led by Yoram Rozen, professor of physics and director of the Asher Space Research Institute at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, say they are ready to build a shadow prototype this proves that the idea works.

According to Rozen, to block the necessary amount of solar radiation, the shadow should have a surface area of ​​2,589,988. square kilometers, approximately the size of Argentina.

A screen that big would weigh at least 2.5 million tonstoo much to be launched into space.

Therefore, the project should include a series of smaller screens.

They would not completely block sunlight, but instead cast a slightly diffused shade on earth.

Rozen said his team is ready to design a prototype display 30 m2 and which is asking for between 10 and 20 million dollars to finance the event.

“We can show the world:

“Look, there is a solution that works, take it, adapt it to the size you need,” he said.

Supporters argue that an umbrella would not eliminate the need to stop burning coal, oil and gas, the main drivers of climate change.

Even if greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels were immediately reduced to zero, a solution already exists excess carbon dioxide which traps heat.

The Earth’s average temperature is about to rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

This is the point where the chances of extreme storms, droughts, heat waves and wildfires increase would increase significantly and humans and other species would have a harder time surviving, scientists say.

The planet has already warmed by 1.2 degrees Celsius.

An umbrella would help stabilize the climate, supporters of the idea say, while pursuing other strategies climate mitigation.

“I’m not saying this will be the solution, but I think everyone needs to work to find all possible solutions,” said Szapudi, the astronomer who proposed tying a parasol to an asteroid.

It was 1989 when James soonof Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, suggested a “space sun shield” located near a fixed point between the Earth and the Sun called Point one Lagrangianor L1, about 932,000 kilometers, four times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon.

There, the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Sun are deleted reciprocally.

In 2006, Roger Angeloan astronomer at the University of Arizona, presented his deflecting solar shield proposal to the National Academy of Sciences and later received funding from NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts to continue his research.

He suggested launching billions of very light spacecraft to L1, using transparent films and guidance technology that would prevent the devices from deorbiting.

“It’s like you put a controller down in the sun,” Angel said, “and it doesn’t mess with the atmosphere.”

Against

The sunshade idea has its detractors, including Susanne Baur, a doctoral candidate in modeling the modification of solar radiation at the European Center for Advanced Research and Training in Scientific Computing in France.

According to Baur, an umbrella would be astronomically expensive and could not be built punctual, given the speed of global warming.

Furthermore, according to Baur, a solar storm or a collision with stray space rocks could damage the shield and cause sudden and rapid heating with disastrous consequences.

According to him it would be better to invest time and money reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, dedicating a small part of the research to ideas of solar geoengineering “more vital and profitable.”

But umbrella advocates argue that reducing greenhouse gas emissions at this point will not be enough to quell climate chaos, that carbon dioxide removal has proven extremely difficult to achieve, and that all possible avenues must be explored to find solutions.

According to Szapudi there should be a fully operational umbrella resistant and reversible.

In their design proposal, 99% of its weight would come from the asteroid, which would help offset the costs.

Even so, its price tag would likely rise to trillions of dollars, far less than what is spent on military weapons, according to Szapudi.

“In my opinion, saving the Earth and giving up 10% of the weapons to destroy things is a good deal,” Szapudi says.

He puts tesla as an example of an idea that seemed tremendously ambitious at the time, but which 20 years after its founding became the world’s first manufacturer of electric vehicles.

Morgan Goodwin, executive director of Planetary parasol foundationa nonprofit organization, says one reason umbrellas haven’t gained as much traction is that climate researchers have naturally focused on what’s happening inside Earth’s atmosphere and not in space.

But cheaper space launches and investments in an industrial space economy have expanded the possibilities, Goodwin says.

The foundation suggests its use raw materials from space and launch parasol ships to L1 from the Moon, which would cost much less than launching from Earth.

“We think that as climate people understand the idea of ​​umbrellas better, this will become a pretty obvious part of the debate,” said Goodwin, who is also director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club.

The Technion model consists of attach light solar sails to a small satellite sent to L1.

His prototype would move back and forth between L1 and another equilibrium point, with the sail tilted between pointing at the sun and being perpendicular to it, moving like a slat on a Venetian blind.

This would help keep the satellite stable and eliminate the need for a propulsion systemRozen explained.

Rozen said the team is still in the pre-design phase, but could launch a prototype within three years of getting the prototype necessary funds.

He estimated that a full-size version would cost billions (a bill “that would have to be paid the world, not just one country“he said) but it would reduce the Earth’s temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius in two years.

“At the Technion we are not going to save the planet,” Rozen said.

“But we will demonstrate that it can be done.”

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