The impacts of climate change continue to mount on human civilization, with warning signs that worse times are yet to come. Despite the scientific community raising an early warning as to the risks of continued air pollution and greenhouse gas output, efforts to stem emissions have thus far had minimal impact. Continued inaction has led some scientists to consider alternative solutions to stave off the worst from occurring.
Geoengineering has long been touted as a potential solution for our global warming woes. Now, the idea of launching a gigantic dust cloud from the moon to combat Earth’s rising temperatures is under the spotlight. However, this very sci-fi solution has some serious implications if pursued, if humanity can even achieve the feat in the first place.
Cloud of Protection
A new concept involves spraying dust from the Moon towards the L1 point between the Sun and the Earth. This would potentially be much more efficient than launching billions of kilograms of dust from the Earth’s surface by conventional methods. Credit: Gregory H. Revera, CC BY-SA 3.0
The idea behind the proposal is simple. By reducing the energy input into the Earth from the Sun, we can better account for the Earth’s increased insulation in recent times. There are a variety of ways to achieve this, with the emission of sulfur dioxide aerosols an area of active research for many scientists. However, moon dust could serve in a very similar role, if properly distributed around the Earth.
Researchers have explored methods such as creating a large singul ..
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