Space sun shade concept. Provided with Planetary Sunshade Foundation
American scientists have come up with a plan to use space dust to fight climate change. It is a strategy to block some sunlight from reaching the earth from the sun by creating a ‘sun shadow’ with dust in outer space. It is estimated that it can block around 1-2% of sunlight from reaching the Earth. Benjamin Bromley, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Utah, USA, and Scott Kenyon, researcher at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, USA, published this analysis in the international journal ‘Plos Climate’ on the 8th (local time).
The idea of creating sunshades in space is not new. Early James, who at the time was a researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States, first suggested this idea in the 1989 international journal ‘Journal of the British Interstellar Association’. At that time, it was just an idea because it was not possible to think of a method of action, but as climate change becomes extreme, scientists are focusing research on climate change responses using outer space.
● “Use sunshades with dust on the surface of the moon, not the Earth”
The American research team is a concrete plan that can realize the idea proposed by the early researcher of the James Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory more than 30 years ago. At the time, researcher James suggested that a thin glass sunshade 2,000 kilometers long could be placed in space from materials contained in lunar rocks, reducing 1.8% of sunlight reaching the Earth. It was presented as an idea, but there was no way to implement it.
The idea put forward by researchers at the University of Utah and the Smithsonian is to create a sunshade by scattering dust from the surface of the moon towards the sun. Analysis results were presented through computer simulations that it is cheaper than supplying dust on Earth and that the unique characteristics of lunar dust can maximize the shielding effect. It is the same as the current ideas to place the shadow of the space sun at the first Lagrangian point (L1), which is about 1.5 million km away from the earth towards the sun, but there is a difference in the fact that the dust of the moon is being used.
The research team has also deduced the best possible route to launch moon dust directly from a space station or a settlement to be built on the moon and sent to L1. When dust is sent from Earth to L1, it is easily deflected from the path by solar wind or gravity, but it is analyzed that it is easily transported to L1 when launched from the moon.
Responding to some concerns that the space sun’s shadow can greatly block sunlight from reaching Earth, the research team said, “Even if some sunlight is blocked, Earth is not becomes a permanently cold and desolate planet as in the science fiction film ‘Snowpiercer’. “Space can be a big game changer in tackling climate change.”
Before that, a research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States proposed a method of using air bubbles as sunshade in July last year. It is a method of making a giant bubble raft in space with bubbles in the form of a thin film made of silicon. Soap bubbles on the water are closely connected. The research team analyzed that building a space bubble raft the size of Brazil could reduce 2% of sunlight reaching Earth. In addition, there are ideas such as a space sunshade made of small flying objects or a ‘space mirror’ that launches a huge mirror into space to reflect sunlight coming to earth.
● In order to find climate change patterns and solutions, the accuracy of satellite observation must be improved.
Scientists are paying attention to space as climate change deepens. The United Nations, the United States, and the United Kingdom unanimously emphasize that “space technology will be a game-changer in responding to climate change.”
Climate change patterns and analyzes are also possible thanks to satellites in outer space. Satellites play a key role in continuous, long-term observations of the Sun’s influence on the Earth’s environment and climate. About 150 satellites and 340 commercial Earth observation satellites are used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) or the European Space Agency (ESA) for Earth observation. He observes the earth thoroughly, including the sea, land, ice, and atmosphere.
Efforts are also made to improve the accuracy of observation. The UK’s National Space Research Organization plans to launch a next-generation satellite from Earth within this year. The satellite can measure the sea surface temperature accurately within 0.2 degrees even at an altitude of 800 km. Standing on the ‘Big Van’ landmark in London, England, you can see the ‘Eiffel Tower’ in Paris, France in detail. It is expected to serve as the most accurate thermometer among the Earth observation satellites ever launched.
As mankind’s movement into space accelerates, voices calling for a rapid response to climate change are also growing. A research team at the Antarctic Environment Center in the UK published an analysis in the international academic journal ‘Geophysical Research Letter’ in September last year that the amount of space debris will increase due to the increase in global temperature. The research team said, “As the temperature rises, the density of the upper atmosphere decreases, and the time that space debris, which would have been dragged into the Earth’s atmosphere and burned up, remains in Earth orbit will low increases by 30%. compared to the 2000s.” It will happen more often,” he said.
