A new study lays out the theoretical plan of tethering a giant solar shield to a captured space rock. Potentially, this contraption could protect Earth from the sun.
that dwell there today. In theory, a large-enough solar shield could effectively block around 1.7 percent of solar radiation at L1, enough to prevent a catastrophic rise in Earth's temperatures. However, any sort of solar shade is bound to face a stark engineering challenge: At L1, they'd be subject to both the sun's and Earth’s gravities while experiencing a constant torrent of solar radiation.
But to get around that issue, Szapudi proposed, much of the material itself can come from space — from a capturedor even lunar dust. That matter could theoretically serve as a counterweight, tethered to a much smaller shield weighing only around 35,000 tons. Right now, even such a smaller shield would be far too heavy for a rocket to lift, but with advances in materials, Szapudi’s study suggests we could manage the feat in several decades.
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