Earth’s Umbrella: How A Solar Shield Tethered To An Asteroid Could Fight Climate Change
Among the many extra-terrestrial challenges faced by the Earth, one of them comes straight from our planet’s home star. Sun eruptions mainly come in two forms: solar flares and coronal mass ejections. The origin story is identical in both cases, but the former travels at the speed of light and mainly consist of high-energy particles, while coronal mass ejections (CME) are essentially a magnetic cloud that travels slower but can wreak havoc on electrical and telecom infrastructure.
Then there’s climate change phenomenon, which has compounded the harmful impact of solar radiations. So far, scientists have proposed a diverse gamut of ideas — ranging from seemingly practical to downright wild — that seek to protect Earth from a potential major solar catastrophe. The latest one comes from experts at the University of Hawaii, and it proposes creating a massive umbrella tethered to an asteroid.
The contraption would act as “a solar shield to reduce the amount of sunlight hitting Earth.” To begin with, the team has set a target of blocking about 1.7% of solar radiation falling on Earth, which is said to be enough to stop “a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.”
Another advantage of this approach is that it is fairly non-invasive compared to other geo-engineering ideas that consider chemically or physically altering the Earth’s atmosphere and seas. But as clever as it sounds, there are still practical challenges.