Representational image. AFP
New Delhi: Researchers at the University of Utah have come up with a unique proposal to mitigate global warming — a plan to cover Earth with a shield of moon dust to scatter sun light.
The concept called “solar shield” by the researchers involves mining millions of tons of dust from the moon and shooting it into the space to make a protective covering around the planet.
The study titled ‘Dust as a shield’ was published in the Plos Climate journal. It was headed by Ben Bromley, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Utah.
“A really exciting part of our study was the realization that the natural lunar dust grains are just the right size and composition for efficiently scattering sunlight away from Earth”, Bromley told the Guardian.
“Since it takes much less energy to launch these grains from the moon’s surface, as compared with an Earth launch, the ‘moonshot’ idea really stood out for us”, he added.
The study analysed a wide variety of material like coal and sea salt that could reduce the heat effect of sunlight by about 2 percent if fired into the space. However, it settled on moon dust.
How can the concept be put into action?
The plan if ever put into action would require millions of tons of moon dust to be mined, sifted and loaded into a ballistic device like an electromagnetic rail gun, and fired into the space every year to maintain the solar shield.
The nature and scope of the operation would warrant a great deal of logistical arrangements.
It would first require the mining equipment to be taken on the moon, which in itself would be a “significant project” according to Bromley. This may even require positioning a new space station at the space area called the L1 Lagrange point found between the Sun and Earth.
The positioning, according to the researcher, is essential to “redirect packets of dust on to orbits that could provide shade for as long as possible.”
This shield will act as a “fine-tuned dimmer switch, leaving our planet untouched”, Bromley says.
The plan has an “advantage over other solar geoengineering proposals that have raised concerns about the environmental impact of spraying reflective particles within the Earth’s atmosphere”, the researcher told the Guardian.
The risks
The outlandish plans would require moon dust to be continually propelled into space for the pan to work.
However, there is a risk of “termination shock”, where in the setup is stopped abruptly and the Earth would be left to rapidly heat up.
“Bromley insisted that the research’s sci-fi idea is no substitute for the primary task of cutting planet-heating emissions in the first place”, the Guardian reported.
Playing around with the climate, including attempts to reflect sunlight, is a controversial and still relatively fringe response to the climate crisis.
However, it has gained some traction amid repeated warnings that countries are not slashing emissions quickly enough to prevent disaster with the US government launching a research project around the concept last year, the Guardian reported
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