Sunday, March 1, 2009

100,000 sq mile sunshade to stop global warming?

http://astroprofspage.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/smir2.jpgA giant sunshade consisting of trillions of mirrors fired into space to reflect the sun s rays could be the answer to global warming. That s according to astronomer Dr Roger Angel from the University of Arizona who claims the method is "guaranteed to work". A cannon with a barrel measuring a massive 0.6 miles across would be needed to shoot the mirrors one million miles above Earth – not to mention some £244 trillion to fund the project. And being 100 times more powerful than conventional weapons the gun would require an exclusion zone of "several miles" reports the Telegraph. Immensely dangerous Investigating the sun shield theory is a British inventor who was commissioned to build a four-metre long scaled-down version of the gun. "It was immensely dangerous. I was attempting to build a gun to produce 1 500G of force but it ended up creating about 10 000G and we had to turn the power down " he told reporters. If tests for Dr Angel s sun shield are successful the mirrors could be launched within 20-30 years time.

via 100,000 sq mile sunshade to stop global warming? | News | TechRadar UK.

It sounds interesting but I'd like more details. What shape are the mirrors? How do they get into space without breaking? How do they keep from hitting eachother and other orbiting objects? Can we turn them off if it gets too cool?

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