NASA looks at plan to blot out Sun

The Sydney Morning herald ^ | November 20, 2006

[chemical_boy]

THE idea seems like something out of a Superman comic: a machine or missile shoots tonnes of particles into the atmosphere that would block the Sun's rays, cool down the overheated Earth, and reverse global warming.

But at the weekend scientists gathered in a closed session organised by NASA and Stanford University to discuss researching such a strategy. The idea is called geo-engineering: using technology to tinker with the Earth's delicate climate balance.

Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, said his modelling showed the idea worked. "We found that if you blocked 20 per cent of the sunlight over the Arctic Ocean it would be enough to restore sea ice," he said.

[chemical_boy]

paging doctor evil

[Cinnamon]

these people can't find a cure for cancer and they're gonna mess with the earth's climate on a global scale? God help us!

[Defiant]

They're launching Rosie O'Donnell into space?

[no-to-illegals]

it is a simple concept capable with a 15 mile (similar) square mirror, but I would guess capability is limited to no more than several hundred yards square for the present, or actual sky coverage size, if this was / is the question.

[rbg81]

Wouldn't it be fitting if this kludge backfired and plunged the Earth into a new (permanent) ice age? Your tax dollars at work.

[Larry Lucido]

shoots tonnes of particles into the atmosphere that would block the Sun's rays, cool down the overheated Earth, and reverse global warming.

Oh, yeah, this can't go wrong.

[crazyhorse691]

Skepticism used to be the bedrock of Science...now its media attention and government grants.

[Paleo Conservative]

it is a simple concept capable with a 15 mile (similar) square mirror,

Wouldn't it be cool if a system of mirrors like that could be used to light up large areas on the Earth at night?

[no-to-illegals]

something of such a scale is only imagined....
never to be???

[NaughtiusMaximus]

I'll sue.

(I need my rays.)

[Redcloak]

I've got a better idea: Let's nudge an asteroid out of orbit and send it crashing into the Earth. The resulting dust cloud will block the Sun's harmful warmth.

[ReignOfError]

The idea is called geo-engineering: using technology to tinker with the Earth's delicate climate balance.

Yeah, that'll end well.

If that doesn't work, they can import kudzu for ground cover, cane toads to eat all the bugs, and zebra mussels to clean up all the excess algae.

[mwilli20]

But... but... I thought the Sun had nothing to do with global warming...

[KellyAdmirer]

It would be even cooler if the system of mirrors could be focused so as to fry Osama bin Laden in his cave.

[no-to-illegals]

No Thanks....
that's a little to drastic for me and have you any idea of the energy it would take to move / change an asteroid's path and trajectory?

Hey NASA Redcloak has a question.....

[r9etb]

I guess the esteemed climatologist forgot to take a basic orbital mechanics class in his undergrad years....

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Wouldn't it be cool if a system of mirrors like that could be used to light up large areas on the Earth at night?

I'm by no means an enviropath, but I have to think any mirror reflecting light with the Sun's particular spectrum would play hobb with animals anywhere such a system were employed. Not to mention screwing with human circadian rhythms.

I'm just saying...

[quikdrw]

That's what I afraid of.

[citizen]

Fortunately these nutballs need funding --- Wait! OMG! the algor-san-fran-nan nutballs are in charge now, Heaven help us!

[ReignOfError]

Wouldn't it be cool if a system of mirrors like that could be used to light up large areas on the Earth at night?

No, not really. Animals including H. Sapiens get discombobulated when you mess with the balance of day and night, and I already spend more than enough on air conditioning, thanks anyway.