Earth is experiencing rapid warming, and astronomer István Szapudi has proposed a solar shield principle to reduce sunshine striking Earth, utilizing a connected asteroid as a counterweight. This innovative concept makes the guards mass more than 100 times lighter than previous designs, with the only part that needs to be launched from Earth weighing about 35,000 lots. Credit: Brooks Bays/UH Institute for Astronomy
Shading Earth: An Innovative Solar Shield Tethered to an Asteroid to Combat Climate Change
Earth is quickly warming and scientists are establishing different techniques to reduce the effects of environment change. István Szapudi, an astronomer at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy, has proposed a special method– a solar shield to reduce the quantity of sunshine hitting Earth, integrated with a tethered, caught asteroid as a counterweight. Engineering research studies using this method might begin now to develop a practical style that might alleviate climate modification within years.
The paper, “Solar radiation management with a tethered sun guard,” was just recently released in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Solar Shield Concept
Among the most uncomplicated methods to reducing the global temperature is to shade the Earth from a portion of the Suns light. This idea, called a solar shield, has actually been proposed previously, however the large amount of weight needed to make a guard enormous adequate to stabilize gravitational forces and avoid solar radiation pressure from blowing it away makes even the lightest materials prohibitively costly.
Earth is experiencing rapid warming, and astronomer István Szapudi has actually proposed a solar shield concept to lower sunshine striking Earth, making usage of a tethered asteroid as a counterweight. István Szapudi, an astronomer at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy, has proposed a distinct approach– a solar guard to lower the amount of sunshine hitting Earth, integrated with a tethered, caught asteroid as a counterweight. While this number is still far beyond existing launch capabilities, just 1% of the weight– about 35,000 loads– would be the shield itself, and that is the only part that requires to be launched from Earth. Such a connected structure would be much faster and more affordable to develop and release than other shield designs.
Establishing a light-weight but strong graphene tether connecting the guard with the counterweight is important.
Szapudis imaginative option includes two innovations: a connected counterweight rather of simply a massive shield, resulting in making the overall mass more than 100 times less, and using a caught asteroid as the counterweight to prevent introducing the majority of the mass from Earth.
Artists performance of the proposed solar shield tethered to an asteroid as a counterweight. Credit: Brooks Bays/UH Institute for Astronomy
” In Hawaiʻi, many utilize an umbrella to block the sunlight as they walk about throughout the day. I was believing, could we do the same for Earth and thereby alleviate the upcoming catastrophe of environment change?” Szapudi said.
Integrating a Tethered Counterbalance
Szapudi began with the goal of reducing solar radiation by 1.7%, a quote of the quantity required to prevent a devastating increase in international temperatures. He discovered that putting a connected counterbalance toward the Sun might minimize the weight of the shield and counterweight to roughly 3.5 million loads, about one hundred times lighter than previous quotes for an untethered guard.
While this number is still far beyond existing launch abilities, only 1% of the weight– about 35,000 heaps– would be the shield itself, which is the only part that requires to be introduced from Earth. With more recent, lighter materials, the mass of the guard can be decreased even further. The remaining 99% of the overall mass would be asteroids or lunar dust used as a counterweight. Such a connected structure would be faster and less expensive to release and build than other shield designs.
Todays biggest rockets can only raise about 50 lots to low Earth orbit, so this method to solar radiation management would be challenging. Szapudis approach brings the idea into the world of possibility, even with todays technology, whereas previous concepts were totally unattainable. Also, establishing a strong however lightweight graphene tether linking the shield with the counterweight is important.
Referral: “Solar radiation management with a connected sun shield” by István Szapudi, 31 July 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.DOI: 10.1073/ pnas.2307434120.