Test Flight for Sunlight-Blocking Research Is Canceled

The Swedish Space Corporation said it had canceled the flight — part of research to better understand the controversial idea of blocking the sun to fight climate change — after an outcry from environmentalists and others.

A test flight for researching ways to cool Earth by blocking sunlight will not take place as planned in Sweden this June, following objections from environmentalists, scientists and Indigenous groups there. The Swedish Space Corporation said this week it had canceled plans for the flight, in which it would have launched a high-altitude balloon, on behalf of researchers, from its facility in the Arctic. It would have been the first flight of a long-planned experiment called Scopex, a project led by scientists at Harvard University. The corporation, which is government owned, said it had consulted “with both leading experts on geoengineering and with other stakeholders,” as well as with a Harvard committee that is advising the researchers. The decision not to conduct the test was made in agreement with the Harvard panel, it said.