Related papers: A Zero-Radiation Pressure Sunshade for Supporting …
Some have suggested solar geoengineering, cooling the planet by reflecting sunlight, could be deployed temporarily to shave the peak of global temperatures. This would use limited deployment to keep global mean temperatures below a given…
The development of a Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) based solar-shade system, as part of a technically- and financially-viable multipurpose system to provide long-term solutions to global warming and the energy crisis is discussed. The proposed…
With the increasing urgency of climate change's impacts and limited success in reducing emissions, "geoengineering," or the artificial manipulation of the climate to reduce warming rates, has been proposed as an alternative short-term…
There are many indications that anthropogenic global warming poses a serious threat to our civilization and its ecological support systems. Ideally this problem will be overcome by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Various space-based…
Climate change is one of the 21st centurys major challenges. However, the progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions is perceived as being too slow. Hence, more radical technologies such as stratospheric aerosol injection are entering…
Combined climate mitigation/geoengineering approach has better economic utility, less emission control rate and temperature increase than mitigation alone. If setting the 50% reduction rate and 2^\circC temperature increase as constrains,…
Geoengineering may offer a way to pause global warming, providing the time for more permanent solutions to become effective. Erection of a high-altitude hose offers an affordable and near-term approach to deliver sulfur-bearing fluids to…
The climate of Earth is susceptible to catastrophes that could threaten the longevity of human civilization. Geoengineering to reduce incoming solar radiation has been suggested as a way to mediate the warming effects of contemporary…
As part of NASA's mission to explore habitable planets orbiting nearby stars, this paper explores the detection and characterization capabilities of a 4-m space telescope plus 50-m starshade located at the Earth-Sun L2 point, a.k.a. the New…
Despite efforts to stabilize CO_2 concentrations, it is possible that the climate system could respond abruptly with catastrophic consequences. Intentional intervention in the climate system to avoid or ameliorate such consequences has been…
Heatwaves pose a significant threat to public health, especially as global warming intensifies. However, current routing systems (e.g., online maps) fail to incorporate shade information due to the difficulty of estimating shades directly…
Artificial intelligence is projected to increase U.S. data centre power demand beyond 100 gigawatt by 2035 and global demand toward 1 terrawatt. In response, companies and governments have proposed placing computing infrastructure in…
Harnessing solar radiation pressure is key to transforming space exploration with multiple low cost sunlight propelled spacecraft to outer reaches of space. By controlling the direction of sunlight momentum transfer new missions and better…
While humans become more reliant on Earth's space environment, the potential for significant harm from severe space weather continues to grow. As structures from the sun reach Earth's magnetosphere and space environment, they deposit energy…
Solar geoengineering, or deliberate climate modification, has been receiving increased attention in recent years. Given the far-reaching consequences of any potential solar geoengineering deployments, it is prudent to identify inherent…
Global temperature is a fundamental climate metric highly correlated with sea level, which implies that keeping shorelines near their present location requires keeping global temperature within or close to its preindustrial Holocene range.…
There is a growing appreciation that the environmental conditions that we call space weather impact the technological infrastructure that powers the coupled economies around the world. With that comes the need to better shield society…
Meeting net-zero targets remains formidable as terrestrial renewables grapple with intermittency and regional variability. Here, we integrate space-based solar power (SBSP) -- a potential near-constant, orbital solar technology -- into a…
The ultimate climate emergency is a "runaway greenhouse": a hot and water vapour rich atmosphere limits the emission of thermal radiation to space, causing runaway warming. Warming ceases only once the surface reaches ~1400K and emits…
Solar energy adoption is critical to achieving net-zero emissions. However, it remains difficult for many industrial and commercial actors to decide on whether they should adopt distributed solar-battery systems, which is largely due to the…