Hanley_2005abstr

CONTROLLING GLOBAL WARMING USING TERRAFORMING METHODS
A “Prime Mission” For Space?

Brian Hanley

Mars Society

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the financial feasibility of using space based satellites to shade the earth to control global warming. By using iterative runs of standard global climate models from NASA figures for the amount of incoming solar radiation that must be blocked are estimated. A financial model based on weight of 2 mil aluminized mylar was made. This model showed that at current launch costs, controlling global warming would require expenditures greater than or equal to (on a yearly basis) the national budgets of the USA, Canada, Germany and France combined. Such costs indicate that this robust method of global warming control is not currently feasible if launched from the surface of the earth. However, it raises a very good question of whether a space based control system would be fiscally reasonable if the materials and construction were done with Mars, asteroid, or lunar material. No data is presented, but the author believes that Mars colony based manufacturing is highly likely to be the lowest cost method of control for our planet, and should be investigated.

KEYWORDS

Climate modeling, global warming, global warming control, global warming cost