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With the falling costs of getting cargo to orbit, will it ever be possible to install solar reflectors that keep the polar regions from heating up? This would k
by Dumblydorr 6y ago
With the falling costs of getting cargo to orbit, will it ever be possible to install solar reflectors that keep the polar regions from heating up? This would keep intact the reflective white poles for longer, a positive development.
How big would the reflectors have to be, would they be in the L1 lagrange point? Maybe if SpaceX keeps lowering launch costs it will eventually be a no brainier?
- zhouyisu 6y agoI'm just thinking the same thing. BTW the excess energy can be reflected to orbit labs or moon to make something more interesting (reactors, generators, water electrolysis etc)
- kreeben 6y agoReflective white poles that are covered up are no longer acting in a reflecting manner. If they are not acting in a reflective manner, since they're being covered up, what good are they? In my mind, geostationary satellites with reflective properties are a solution to a symptom but not to the root cause. I was always taught to fix the root cause of problems, not their symptoms. Therefore I find your strategy to be sup optimal. Having said that, I agree that if we find the root cause to be unsolvable, we should look into fixing some of the symptoms instead.
- graeme 6y agoThe poles would still prevent sea level rise. Or avoiding melt of the land based ice sheets would anyway. I agree with you on solving root causes. If we don’t, the oceans will acidify with co2 and there may also be bad effects from higher co2 in the air. Emerging studies show cognitive declines. That said, both of those are slower moving crises to some extent. We may face acute challenges from excess heat and changing weather patterns. So it’s possible we’ll require an emergency stopgap while we fix the underlying issues.
- legulere 6y agoYou don’t need to completely obstruct all light. Just as much as needed to keep the ice from melting. The rest is done by the high albedo.
- u678u 6y agoWouldn't it be better to have the reflectors over the equator?
- chalst 6y agoNot great for rainforest.
- onion2k 6y agoStopping the Earth receiving sunlight uniformly across the surface could have some interesting unintended consequences.
- jmcqk6 6y agoAlso, who gets to decide who gets sunlight when? There's no way that's going to not lead to problems. Any thing interfering with enough sunlight to make a difference in global warming is a weapon, whether we recognize it as such or not.
- flukus 6y agoHere's a video of someone going through the maths and their various assumptions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yqi0FabHHs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yqi0FabHHs TLDR: It's preposterous in just about every way, from the number of shades needed to the costs to the number of launches required.