A giant “sunshade” attached to an asteroid could potentially reduce solar radiation by 0.24 to 1.7 percent, effectively halting climate change, according to a new study. While scientists estimate that a reduction of one to two percent of incoming sunlight could stop climate change, a cluster of bubbles designed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to reduce solar radiation by 1.8 percent is not practically feasible. However, astronomer István Szapudi from the University of Hawai?i at M?noa (UH) has developed an alternative concept to reduce sunlight. According to his publication in the journal PNAS, an oversized “sunshade” could be attached to an asteroid to reduce solar radiation by 0.24 to 1.7 percent. The asteroid would serve as a counterweight to the sunshade, keeping it in position without additional stabilization measures.
To reduce the necessary weight required to fix the sunshade, Szapudi suggests using Lagrange Point 1, where the gravitational forces of the sun and Earth cancel each other out. The maintenance of the sunshade’s position at this point would require minimal energy. However, to position the sunshade at Lagrange Point 1, the sunshade and asteroid would need to weigh a combined 3.5 million tons. While there are likely enough suitable asteroids in the solar system, the challenge lies in getting the necessary materials into space. The sunshade itself is estimated to weigh 35,000 tons, far beyond the maximum capacity of the strongest rocket currently in development, SpaceX’s Starship, which can only carry 250 tons into orbit.
The implementation of this concept would require the development of new, lighter materials. Szapudi suggests that “depending on the parallel and coherent development of graphene, fasteners, and orbital technologies, a fixed sunshield could be realized faster and more cost-effectively than a heavier structure.” While the concept of a sunshade attached to an asteroid may seem far-fetched, it offers a potential solution to the urgent problem of climate change.
