They Want to Cool the Earth By Blocking the Sun With a Space Umbrella
In the ongoing quest for innovative solutions to combat the pressing issue of global warming, scientists are contemplating a radical approach: sending umbrellas into space to intercept the Sun’s relentless radiation. Led by Yoram Rozen, a team is poised to embark on the construction of a prototype, envisioning a colossal umbrella that would need to cover an expansive area, approximately one million square miles.
The sheer magnitude of this endeavor has led to a proposal advocating for the launch of a swarm of smaller shades into space, each working in concert to achieve the desired effect. The ambitious objective is to obstruct one to two percent of the Sun’s radiation, offering a potential avenue to alleviate the impacts of global warming.
While this concept may seem novel, it echoes previous considerations, such as the deployment of dust at a strategic “Lagrange point” or the use of an umbrella tethered to an asteroid. However, the current proposal faces its fair share of skepticism. Detractors argue that a sunshade of this scale would be exorbitantly expensive, logistically challenging, and may struggle to endure the harsh…
