Tackling global warming with an asteroid ‘umbrella’? Here’s all you need to know about the unique method and how does it work

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Earth from the sun's rays using a spaceborne «umbrella» tethered to a captured asteroid. This theoretical concept, proposed by István Szapudi, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy, seeks to mitigate the impending catastrophe of climate change by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching our planet's surface.

Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, trap sunlight around Earth, contributing to global warming. Szapudi's idea revolves around building a massive solar shield to rest at the L1 Lagrange point, positioned between the sun and Earth. This hypothetical shield could block approximately 1.7 percent of solar radiation at L1, which is sufficient to prevent a catastrophic rise in Earth's temperatures.

A viable solar shade faces significant engineering challenges, requiring immense size and durability to withstand constant solar radiation and gravitational forces from both the sun and Earth. To address this, Szapudi suggests that the materials for the solar shield could be sourced from space, such as capturing an asteroid or utilizing lunar dust. By using these materials as a counterweight, tethered to a much smaller shield, the overall weight for lifting into orbit becomes manageable.

Szapudi's concept falls under the category of solar geoengineering, a controversial idea that aims to mitigate global warming by reducing the sunlight reaching Earth's surface. Other solar geoengineering proposals include injecting aerosols into the atmosphere or modifying clouds to reflect more sunlight back into space. The study outlining this theoretical solar shield was