What Controls The Weather What Controls The Weather

Space geoengineering: Can we control the weather?

Geoengineering is the use of technology to alter Earth's climate. This can take place on Earth or in space

Geoengineering is the use of technology to alter Earth'southward climate. This tin take identify on Earth or in space (Image credit: Panther Media GmbH / Alamy Stock Photograph)

Geoengineering is the use of technology to alter Earth's climate. It may have become the topic of daily small talk, simply the weather and its changing states has a big impact on individuals, localized areas and our planet as a whole.

In some countries, the prolonged lack of rain creates harsh, dry weather, while others are constantly threatened by surges of floodwater.

Severe weather varies drastically from country to land, but i change in climate is common worldwide– global temperatures continue to steadily increase.

Related: Geoengineering Globe'southward atmosphere: How it could touch on astronomy

Why exercise some scientists support geoengineering?

Every bit modernistic technology advances and our agreement of meteorological processes grows, scientists are discovering new ways to command the weather. Instead of succumbing to nature's schedule, projects are in place to make the skies rain, remove carbon dioxide from the temper and prevent extreme weather events such as hurricanes and flooding.

The reasons for weather manipulation tin can vary from the convenient to the essential. Geoengineering is the term used to depict the manipulation of weather condition to combat the effects of global warming. These methods are generally split into ii categories– carbon dioxide removal and solar geoengineering.

Controlling the weather from space

Geoengineering could help prevent extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Astronaut Ricky Arnold captured this image of Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station. — Geoengineering could help prevent extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Astronaut Ricky Arnold captured this image of Hurricane Florence from the International Infinite Station. (Image credit: NASA)

Geoengineering projects are all created to change Earth's climate. While many are intended for use on ocean surfaces and in Earth's atmosphere, non all of these projects are designed to function on our planet.

Space geoengineering involves taking a big step back from Earth, in an attempt to make more significant alterations. Entering into space means beingness closer to the sun, and so much of the geoengineering technology envisaged for Earth's orbit involves manipulating the sunlight that illuminates our planet.

Can we cake the lord's day?

The first thought for this form of space-based engineering came from engineer James Early in 1989. His concept involved edifice a giant glass sheet of 2,000 kilometres in width, according to the British Interplanetary Guild.

When orbiting Earth, this drinking glass structure would serve equally a barrier betwixt the sun and Earth, reflecting sunlight dorsum into space and reducing the radiation that entered Earth's atmosphere. This essentially sized, solid structure would be incredibly expensive to fly to infinite and would likely need to be assembled in infinite. In space associates technology is something that is currently being experimented with, according to the Chinese Journal of Aeronautics.

Every bit we have no long-term man presence on another planetary body, some of today'southward scientists have envisaged a more than manageable array of smaller mirror satellites and areas of dense asteroid grit to serve every bit a solar barrier.

Boosted resources

You can read more nearly solar geoengineering with this explainer article from Carbon Brief. Explore Geoengineering even further with this educational material from Harvard University. For more than information about geoengineering in space, NASA has answered v common questions about hacking the planet.

Bibliography

Oxford Geoengineering Plan, "What is Geoengineering" http://world wide web.geoengineering.ox.ac.u.k.
McInnes, Colin R. "Infinite-based geoengineering: challenges and requirements." Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Scientific discipline 224.iii (2010): 571-580.
Baum, Chad M., Sean Low, and Benjamin G. Sovacool. "Between the sun and u.s.a.: Expert perceptions on the innovation, policy, and deep uncertainties of space-based solar geoengineering." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 158 (2022): 112179.

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Ailsa is a staff writer for How It Works magazine, where she writes scientific discipline, engineering, infinite, history and environment features. Based in the U.K., she graduated from the Academy of Stirling with a BA (Hons) journalism degree. Previously, Ailsa has written for Cardiff Times mag, Psychology At present and numerous scientific discipline bookazines.