Scientists propose mining Moon dust, using it to shield Earth from harsh Sun to curb global warming

Summer is coming. At least in half the world. Those soon to be in the grip of sweaty months may be busy in making plans of an escape. Whatever these plans are, they may just not be enough to stop the greatest temperature rise phenomenon...global warming.Scientists, however,have come to the rescue in this regard.

A study has proposed that if we mine Moon (Yes that one!) and scatter the dirt around Earth, the sunlight can be dimmed a bit and it would take the edge off rising temperatures.

Ben Bromley, a theoretical physicist at the University of Utah has led the research which has been published in the scientific journal PLOS Climate.

The proposed "moonshot" idea proposes creating a "solar shield" by scattering millions of tonnes of dust mined from the Moon. The dust would be scattered in space about 1 million miles from the Earth.

“A really exciting part of our study was the realisation that the natural lunar dust grains are just the right size and composition for efficiently scattering sunlight away from Earth,” said Ben Bromley, as quoted by The Guardian.

“Since it takes much less energy to launch these grains from the moon’s surface, as compared with an Earth launch, the ‘moonshot’ idea really stood out for us.”

But why Moon dust? Bromley and his associates say the particles from the Moon are of the right size to scatter the sunlight. But the team also considered coal and sea salt which they say can dim the Sun by 2 per cent. But Moon dust was found to be an ideal candidate.

But mining such huge quantity of dust and carefully projecting it around the Earth would be a major engineering operation.While Bromley and his team propose such a radical idea to tackle global warming, heunderlines that his study does not mean that world should not focus on reducing carbon emissions.

“Nothing should distract us from reducing greenhouse gas emissions here on Earth,” he said. “Our strategy may just be a moonshot, but we should explore all possibilities, in case we need more time to do the work here at home.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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