Researchers from the United States verified through computer simulations that the properties of lunar particles are suitable for blocking solar radiationand study whether this dust can be launched from the lunar surface or from a space station located between the Earth and the Sun, according to what was released today through a scientific publication.
The results published in the journal Plos Climatein an article signed by scientists from the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the University of Utah, stress that their study only explores the potential impact of this strategy and does not assess whether the described scenarios are logistically viable.
“We are not experts in climate change or in the space science required to move masses from one place to another. We are just exploring different types of dust in a variety of orbits to see the efficacy of this approach,” the researchers clarified.
From the results, the scientists suggested that dust ejected from the lunar surface or from a space station located between Earth and the Sun could reduce solar radiation enough to mitigate the effects of climate change and they bet on lunar dust as a possible alternative to shade the Earth, according to what the SINC agency published.
For the simulations, the team applied the concept of lunar dust, a technique used to study the formation of planets around distant stars, their usual research object, according to press releases from the Center for Astrophysics and the University of Utah.
“That was the seed of the idea: if we take a small amount of material, put it in a special orbit between the Earth and the Sun and break it up, we could block a large amount of sunlight with a small amount of mass“, argued Ben Bromley, a researcher at the university of utah.
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The researchers explored two scenarios. In the first of them, they discovered that, thrown with precision, the dust followed a trajectory between our planet and the Sun, creating a shadow at least for a while; the solar winds, radiation, and gravity of the solar system easily deflected dust from its path.
In the second scenario, these experts shot lunar dust from a platform on the Moon’s surface towards the Sun and found that the inherent properties of lunar dust were just right to function effectively as a sunshade.
According to Joanna Haigh, a researcher at Imperial College London, who was not involved in this study, she opined that “the calculations are carefully studied and the results regarding the Earth’s energy balance seem robust. However, in terms of global warming mitigation, There is a fundamental problem with the concept behind this kind of global geoengineering.”
“Perhaps the main problem is the suggestion that the implementation of these plans will solve the climate crisis, when all it does is give polluters an excuse not to act“, he pointed out to the British Science Media Center. (Télam)