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Space mirrors are almost impossible to build right now. Shadowing 1% of the earth would require 10 million tons of mylar foil, which would be 100,000 launches
by _Microft 7y ago
Space mirrors are almost impossible to build right now.
Shadowing 1% of the earth would require 10 million tons of mylar foil, which would be 100,000 launches with SpaceX's yet to complete Starship at a payload capacity of 100t (as it was announced, seems to be down a lot for the prototypes) to low earth orbit. That's not doable yet - and it is just the problem of launching the mass, nothing else.
- bllguo 7y agowell spitballing.. does it have to be in space? and what if we split the mirror into many smaller ones? what if we launched a bunch of mirrored balloons?
- fooblitzky 7y agoThat would probably also have the effect of reflecting some of the energy leaving Earth back down onto it, essentially increasing the greenhouse effect. Also, assuming you need to reflect 2% of the incoming light, and using 8ft diameter balloons, you would need approximately 2,744,628,480,000 balloons.
- LargoLasskhyfv 7y agoWhy think so small? Do something like this {1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Nine_(tensegrity_sphere) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Nine_(tensegrity_sphere) combine that with the ideas of [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_platform_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_platform_station and PROFIT!
- _Microft 7y agoI watched SpaceX' Starship update earlier. Maybe space mirrors are not that crazy anymore.