A startup has identified an impressive tool to help reduce worsening planetary warming that is exacerbating floods, drought, and wildfire risk.
Stardust Solutions' tiny engineered particles reflect a small share of sunlight away from Earth and help cool the planet, providing a faster way to drive down thermometer readings.
According to The New York Times, the geoengineering company has published research detailing the chemical properties of particles it said could one day be released into the atmosphere as part of a potential climate intervention strategy.
Although the core concept of this technology is not new, Stardust Solutions is the company to bring the idea closest to reality, The Times noted.
Stardust said it had not conducted any outdoor testing. Still, the announcement marks a notable step that gives scientists, policymakers, and the public a clearer view of a technology that supporters believe could one day buy the planet valuable time as pollution reduction scales up.
If a technology like this can be proven both effective and safe, it has the potential to protect public health and household budgets while easing some of the harshest impacts of a warming planet.
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Stardust has raised $75 million for a process that uses amorphous silica — which the Times reported is used in food additives and other consumer products — along with calcium carbonate, a compound found in eggshells and limestone.
That material choice is one reason the project is attracting attention. Many solar geoengineering proposals have centered on sulfur dioxide, which can reflect sunlight but may also damage the ozone layer and warm the stratosphere.
Stardust said its alternative particles could avoid some of those drawbacks. The company also noted the materials are biodegradable and unlikely to build up in oceans or soil, though outside researchers have said more independent study is needed.
Amorphous silica with a coating meant to keep it from reacting with atmospheric gases could bounce back up to 1% of incoming sunlight, and a calcium carbonate core with an amorphous silica shell could be deployed at higher concentrations.
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Stardust estimated that an initial attempt to cool the atmosphere could cost about $10 billion, including particle production, high-altitude aircraft, and a monitoring system to track the material in the air and later on the ground.
However, even supporters have emphasized this is not a replacement for cutting pollution. Solar geoengineering would not remove carbon from the atmosphere, and it would not solve related problems such as ocean acidification.
Critics have also warned that altering how much sunlight reaches Earth could disrupt weather patterns, especially monsoons that billions of people depend on for agriculture.
"There's this social risk for at least 2 billion people that is directly connected to the lack of scientific understanding about how interfering with the global temperature thermostat is going to interfere with the monsoon formation," Prakash Kashwan, a professor of environmental studies at Brandeis University, told The Times. "We don't have a solution for those kinds of risks."
Until now, Stardust had kept the details of its particles largely private. By releasing more information publicly and submitting research for peer review, the company is pushing a once-fringe concept further into the mainstream climate conversation.
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