A press release revealed that a team of MIT researchers is investigating a robust way to tackle the effects of climate change.
They propose to use “space bubbles” to reflect sunlight away from Earth.
As we all know, such contradictory ideas would not be on the table if people had severely restricted their use of fossil fuels over the years – but here we are.
While some scientists warn that geoengineering is a dangerous obstacle to the work needed to reduce emissions, others say we must consider all options. This is where the MIT team space bubbles come into play.
‘Space bombs’ are a safe alternative to solar geoengineering.
The MIT team approach is a new form of solar geoengineering designed to reflect sunlight far from the Earth to cool our planet and prevent the worst effects of climate change. The most widely studied method of solar geoengineering involves injecting light aerosol particles into outer space. However, the potential negative impact of such an approach is not yet fully understood, which means it is far from being seen as a viable option.
The approach of MIT scientists will be slightly different. Instead of injecting particles into the Earth’s atmosphere, their path will reflect the Sun’s heat from the atmosphere, which means that no harmful particles would have to be placed in our atmosphere.
Researchers are exploring the possibility of placing a shield made of “space bubbles” at Lagrangian Point 1, a stable orbit around the Earth, where the Earth’s gravitational force and the Sun radiate. The James Webb Space Telescope, for example, is located in the Lagrangian Point 2 area.
The biggest obstacle to this approach is, without a doubt, logistics. MIT scientists believe the bomb blade should be the size of Brazil. However, they think bubbles can be made in space, reducing startup costs. They are currently experimenting in the laboratory with “space bubbles” made of silicon.
In a press release, they explained that “in the first test, how we managed to fill a thin film bubble with a pressure of 0.0028 atm, and keep it at -50 ° C (to balance the space conditions of zero pressure and zero. Temperature).”
