MIT scientists propose to fight global warming with a shield of bubbles in space
Miscellaneous / / June 30, 2022
This is a completely reversible method that can offset climate change.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggested a radical idea for solving the problem of global warming: to launch into space a raft of silicon bubbles that will reflect solar radiation from our planet.
This is one of the variants of solar geoengineering - methods aimed at cooling the Earth by reflecting part of the solar radiation. There are several ways to do this, but the most active discussed spraying of reflective particles into the upper atmosphere.
However, this option is, in fact, irreversible: there are currently no viable ideas on how to collect the particles back if something does not go according to plan. Scientists worry that this will lead to disaster: we are not fully able to predict climate change, caused by human activities, and even more so we cannot fully calculate the results of attempts to interfere in these processes.
We need a plan "B", and MIT scientists have proposed an interesting option: to transfer protection to space. Specifically, the team is investigating the possibility of placing a bubble shield at Lagrange Point 1, a place in space where the gravitational pulls of the Earth and the Sun balance out. This will allow the shield to stay in one place, reflecting some of the radiation from the planet. According to scientists, it is enough to cut off only 1.8% of radiation to offset global warming.
The proposed shield will be the size of Brazil, and bubbles for it can be produced directly in space - from silicon or its alloys, the possibility of using liquids reinforced graphene. The team is already experimenting with creating such "space bubbles" in the lab.
Since the bubbles will be located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, this approach is less risky than methods that involve manipulation within the planet's atmosphere. Another important difference from the previously proposed approaches is the reversibility of the new method. If something goes wrong, the bubbles can burst, and the amount of space debris will be minimal.
So far, the MIT proposal remains just an idea. More research and experimentation is needed to determine exactly how we can create, launch into space, and, if necessary, destroy such shields.
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