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Space Sunshade Idea Now Worrisomely Popular
It appears that the idea of creating enormous space artifacts that will save us from global warming is starting to become mainstream. (Read
the complete story)
"The Lagrange point labeled L1 is about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, and directly between the Earth and the sun.
 (Lagrange Points) Ordinarily, you would expect that an object in orbit around the sun, and closer to the sun than the earth, would have a shorter orbital period than the Earth. However, this does not take the Earth's gravity into account. It turns out that an object placed in at the L1 position would tend to stay there." (Bill Christensen 11/3/2006 8:13:07 PM) |
| "Could the light be focused towards Mars to warm it up a bit?" ( 11/5/2006 1:04:41 AM) |
| "That's a great idea! I'm not sure whether anything like that is feasible, but your suggestion is the first I've heard about using excess sunlight to terraform Mars. The lenses would need to subtly shift their positions to focus their beams toward Mars' position. I wonder what it would look like if you looked up from the surface?" (Bill Christensen 11/5/2006 10:57:37 AM) |
| "If you're going to all that trouble and expense, why not work in some power-production capability as well?" (daddyvortex 11/11/2006 7:21:09 AM) |
| "DV- I'm guessing the problem would be how to get that power back to Earth; it's about 1.5 million km to the L1 point. You're certainly right about trying to take advantage of the 'trouble and expense'! Hmm... maybe you could focus each of the litttle lenses at solar cells orbiting not too far from Earth..." (Bill Christensen 11/11/2006 7:38:31 AM) |
| "We understand that natural seasonal fluctuations in temperature and humidity promote the evolution of our native floura and fauna. Why is it so hard for us to accept that natural fluctuations in the energy output of the sun contribute to the evolution of our planet and everything on it? Would an arborist expect a grove of pecan trees to evolve naturally inside the Superdome?
Get real!" (bwise 11/13/2006 6:24:16 PM) |
| "bwise has a very important point. As I understand it, the sun's output has generally been increasing over time. It's output is far from steady even in the short term. On a worrysome note, what if the "experiment" goes wrong and we actually focus the sun's energy like a hot spot of a magnifying glass on one geographical region of the earth? At least if that happens we can set up a giant solar panel and make the most of it!" (WiDawg 11/13/2006 10:11:52 PM) |
| "the average temperature of the Earth changes over time.. up and down, hence the Ice ages. One must remember that after it goes up a bit it has always gone back down. " (Erik 11/14/2006 3:20:40 AM) |
| "While you 3 above me all have valid points. The issue here is that mankind /has been affecting/ our planet. So normally where we'd expect wobble we don't see one. Considering those results and theories probably also considered the CO2 lefts of the time, and we know C02 can affect the weather of a planet. While I agree many of these 'solutions' seem extreme. If it ever is proved one way it's better to have a plan, and brainstorm than to sit back and do nothing. " (Jon 11/14/2006 9:48:21 AM) |
| "I agree that it is better to brainstorm than to sit back and watch, but we may not be seeing a wobble because it is still early and the temperature hasn't started to reach it's peak yet.
And just out of curiosity.. what would the sun look like if this thing were in place?" ( 11/15/2006 12:13:07 AM) |
| "The shade would have no noticeable effect on the appearance of the Sun. 2 percent difference is pretty trivial." (crashbarrierone 11/26/2006 10:34:15 PM) |
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