We all know that climate change is impacting Earth and we are constantly finding ways to bring down the planet’s temperature.
Well, it seems scientists may have thought of a possible solution to curb climate change, and it might not be what you expect.
Scientists at the Planetary Sunshade Foundation have come together to propose sending a massive sunshade to space essentially reducing the amount of sun rays hitting Earth.
The Planetary Sunshade Foundation was founded in 2021, and according to their official website they "develop and advance the concept of space-based solar radiation management".
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Think of it as a massive parasol to protect us from the sun and make the planet less hot.
The Planetary Sunshade Foundation claims that ‘solar radiation modification’ will become an essential part of fending off climate change.
In a document, the foundation wrote: “The Planetary Sunshade Foundation believes that solar radiation modification will be a necessary part of the global warming solution, safeguarding and complementing the transition away from fossil fuels and the removal of excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.”
Morgan Goodwin, Executive Director of the foundation told Space.com: “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the world should rapidly phase out the use of fossil fuels, remove gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere, and limit the incoming solar radiation.”
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The group claims the most feasible point to install the huge sunshade is at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 (L-1), which sits directly between a point “where the gravity of two large bodies (in this case, the Sun and the Earth) and the centrifugal orbital forces balance,” it explained.
That means the sunshade’s optimal location is around 2.4 million kilometres from Earth, which is about five times further away than our Moon’s orbit.
The group claimed this concept has been around since 1989, but the idea has been revisited numerous times since then.
It believes the sunshade is possible and wrote: “The fundamental physics and engineering are understood, initial solar sail technology missions have been flown, and more are coming.”
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The report by Space.com was shared on the r/Futurology thread on Reddit, which has mixed reviews from users.
One user compared the proposal to an episode of cartoon Futurama.
They wrote: “They did this in an episode of Futurama, except it was specifically a mirror.
“The problem with something like that is that it's just a massive target for space junk to hit it and either knock it out of alignment or break it.”
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Meanwhile, this user said it felt like something out of a Highlander film and the results sounded grim.
“One of the Highlander movies had something like this. Destroyed the world's ecosystems,” the user wrote.
Others have suggested other solutions to avoid creating a giant umbrella-like contraption.
One user said: “Just paint your roof white, like everyone paint your roof white.”
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While another said: "Seems pretty straightforward? Doesn't pretty much everyone want the temperature to just go back to the way it was a few decades ago?".