Topic: Dyson Dots*
Speaker: Robert G. Kennedy, P.E.
Abstract: No study of coping with climate change is complete without considering geoengineering. We propose placing a large (300K – 1M km2) lightsail(s) in a radiation-levitated non-Keplerian orbit just sunward of the Sun- Earth Lagrange-1 point. The purpose of this syncretic concept is twofold: (I) As a parasol, it would reduce insolation on Earth by at least one-quarter of a percent, same as that which caused 1.8°C drop during the “Little Ice Age” (~1550-1850), and same as the IPCC Third Report’s mid-range value for global warming by 2050. Lowering temperature will reduce the atmosphere’s water vapor content, which should reverse the increasing frequency and severity of storms, likewise reducing the damage accompanying climate change. The sail would utilize the very photons it diverts from us to maintain its position without expensive fuel. (II) As a photovoltaic power station, the sail could displace about 300 EJ/a (~100 trillion kWh/yr) of fossil-fired electricity for its creators, roughly the entire global demand forecast by 2050, in turn displacing most carbon burners from the terrestrial grid, providing revenue from clean energy sales to pay for the scheme. This approach to geoengineering is linear, scalable, incremental (“pay-as-you-go”), customizable, minimally intrusive, and above all, reversible. If a Tellurian spacefaring civilization built lightsails to fuel its exponential growth, then eventually there might be enough of them to have a detectable effect on Sol’s apparent luminosity as seen from far away, similar to the eponymous Dyson Sphere. For this reason, we tagged our concept with the moniker “Dyson Dot”.
* Co-authors of this work are Kenneth I. Roy, P.E. and David E. Fields, Ph.D.
Bio: Robert G. Kennedy, P.E. is president of The Ultimax Group, Inc. and a registered professional engineer (robotics specialty) on the Senior Staff of TetraTech, Inc. He also serves as Treasurer of ORION, Inc. Robert worked for the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Space as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1994 Congressional Fellow. He has published extensively about technology, society, and international affairs; manufactured and distributed Russian space software worldwide, and co-authored with Ken Roy “Mirrors & Smoke: Ameliorating Climate Change with Giant Solar Sails” in the Summer 2001 issue of The Whole Earth Review.
