h a l f b a k e r yFewer ducks than estimates indicate.
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Easily built: Each week for several years, the launch of a Proton rocket from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan sends tons of smoke-like silica into orbit, forming a ring around the earth. Each launch goes into a different orbital inclination, and hundreds of rings intersect to form a glowing, translucent
sphere around the earth, reflecting sunlight and counteracting global warming.
As the rings are even less substantial than smoke, collisions between constituent particles are minimal. The sphere material is already available at low cost. Using nano-sized particles of silica with a surface area of 500 square meters per gram, only 50 million kilograms will intercept one percent of the sun’s rays.
With today’s technology, with one launch per week, this can be accomplished in 40 years.
Space ring for global cooling.
http://www.livescie...rming_solution.html
Researchers they say?! Bah, they just stealing ideas from the halfbakery! [ldischler, Oct 03 2005]
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This solution lacks a feedback loop. How do we get rid of the "nano-sphere" once "global cooling" results? |
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Reflect the suns rays with mirrors onto the silicia and vaproize em? It's a balancing act... |
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I see, Ldischler Burns blocked out Springfield's sun again. |
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A bonus could be the refractive patterns in the silica sphere 'clouds' as seen from earth - opal is made up of similar material and just maybe your space artifact would look like shimmering opals in the sky...of course, they could also end up looking like an oil slick taking over the cosmos, but a (+) for a highly imaginative idea anyway. |
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ld, I have no idea how to vote on this. |
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[ldischler], in your calculations, are you using the entire surface area of the spheres, or just the cross-sectional area? Have you allowed for the reflection of reflected and radiated heat from Earth, back to Earth from the nanospheres? |
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[Consul] My calculations were back-of-the-envelope, I’ll admit, but the amount required is probably less than what I suggested. As the particles are very small, they will be more or less transparent to IR, so a nano-greenhouse effect won’t cook the earth. Well...probably not.
[DesertFox] Still the addict, I see.
[dbsousa] Like well designed government projects, this one is endless. The orbits of these small particles will decay over a period of several decades, so the launches must go on forever. |
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One day Jimmy was out playing in the snow when suddenly more snow started falling from the sky. Jimmy promptly stuck out his tongue trying to catch some snow but caught instead, silicia from the global warming silicia shield. There being lots of snow due the global cooling effect. |
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Jimmy dies that next day due to poisoning. (is silicia sand? I'm not sure.) |
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Sand is silica, but silica isn't sand. |
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//[Consul] My calculations were back-of-the-envelope,//
This may be the problem. Most of the best ideas are written on the back of a fag packet or at least by splitting a beer mat. |
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Silicia is a country somewhere, isn't it? Or am I thinking of Sicilia? Hmmm... a big orbiting Sicily... Look out little Jimmy, that's not snow, it's a horse's head. |
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Problem: As this cloud drops towards Earth, it's going to act like a giant sandblaster on anything going upwards, e.g. the rockets trying to replenish the shield. The relative velocities of rocket and silica mean that even tiny little particles could potentially do a lot of damage. On the plus side, it'll also affect ICBMS - yay! Cheap version of Son Of Star Wars. [+] |
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Instead of particles, satellites could be put in orbit which would deploy large parasols to reflect solar radiation. On earth, the sun would be blocked for a few moments intermittently as a satellite passed in front of the sun. The number of satellites could be increased or reduced as needed. |
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They stole my idea! See link.
[I’ll admit they added the idea of ‘shepherding moons.’ But that is idiotic, both because of the mass involved, and because they’re not necessary.] |
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and not a single link to the halfbakery, but I think the words "wild idea" are a direct reference to you Lou. Congratulations. |
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Have you factored in the amount of carbon produced by the rockets? |
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A massive railgun would be ideal for the continuous launches necessary. And it would be a lot more energy efficient to hoik your silica up from the moon's gravity well than the Earth's. |
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Still, there is the problem of removing the dust once you're done with it |
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so it's a beach in outer space - brilliant - but can we have
a no stag parties rule please? + |
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