WEBVTT - How do space mirrors work?

0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.600
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com

0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:14.600
<v Speaker 1>where smart Happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question,

0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:18.520
<v Speaker 1>will space mirrors really be able to cool the planet?

0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:23.760
<v Speaker 1>Carbon dioxide and methane are two common greenhouse gases. Human

0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.600
<v Speaker 1>consumption of fossil fuels releases billions of pounds of carbon

0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.320
<v Speaker 1>dioxide gas into the atmosphere every day, and a wide

0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.519
<v Speaker 1>variety of natural processes create methane. One of the problems

0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.640
<v Speaker 1>with the rising level of these greenhouse gases in the

0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:42.360
<v Speaker 1>atmosphere is that it causes the atmosphere to trap more

0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.440
<v Speaker 1>of the heat that arise from the sun, so the

0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.560
<v Speaker 1>Earth is getting warmer. One way to solve this problem

0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:52.040
<v Speaker 1>might be to put mirrors or sunshades in space that

0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.040
<v Speaker 1>would block some of the sunlight that would normally reach

0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.680
<v Speaker 1>the planet. With less sunlight, the planet would get cooler.

0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.960
<v Speaker 1>Three approaches have been suggested. First, we could loft a

0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:07.160
<v Speaker 1>single huge mirror. Depending on its design, it might need

0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:11.080
<v Speaker 1>to be as large as six hundred thousand square miles.

0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.920
<v Speaker 1>This is hard to imagine with current technology. Second, we

0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.440
<v Speaker 1>could use thousands of large satellites, which might come in

0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.760
<v Speaker 1>the form of space solar power satellites to block sunlight

0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:27.040
<v Speaker 1>and generate electricity. Third, we could use a swarm of

0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:32.000
<v Speaker 1>millions of smaller mirrors. One approach uses lunar materials to

0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.679
<v Speaker 1>create the mirrors that orbit far from the Earth. In

0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:39.640
<v Speaker 1>another approach, millions of smaller satellites form a ring in

0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.440
<v Speaker 1>low Earth orbit, much like the rings around Saturns, to

0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:48.000
<v Speaker 1>shade the tropics. Be sure to check out our new

0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.440
<v Speaker 1>video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff Work

0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:55.040
<v Speaker 1>staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities

0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.720
<v Speaker 1>of tomorrow the house Stuff Works. I Find app has

0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:01.240
<v Speaker 1>a ride down at it to day on iTunes