Giant Sun "Umbrella" Tied To Asteroid Might Help Fight Global Warming, Says Scientist

Astronomer Istvan Szapudi, of the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy, came up with the idea called solar shield to reduce the amount of sunlight hitting Earth.

To help combat the effects of global warming, scientists have proposed an innovative idea to shield Earth from the sun with a spaceborne "umbrella" of sorts. Astronomer Istvan Szapudi, of the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy, came up with the idea called solar shield to reduce the amount of sunlight hitting Earth. 

"In Hawai'i, many use an umbrella to block the sunlight as they walk about during the day," Mr Szapudi said in a statement. "I was thinking, could we do the same for Earth and thereby mitigate the impending catastrophe of climate change?" he added. 

In his paper, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, Mr Szapudi acknowledged that this is not the first time this idea of space-based solar radiation management (SRM) shield or shade has been proposed. But he explained that what makes his creative approach different is the plan to tie to giant shield to a captured asteroid as a counterweight.