REM%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (11/09/83)
From: Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC> Filling the deserts with solar collectors will reduce the amount of light&heat that is reflected back into space, thus increasing the total amount of heating. But with space technology for SPS, we can also put up a thin barrier between Earth and space to shield the Earth from some solar radiation and thus cool the Earth if need be. Alternately if the Earth gets too cold we can remove the shield and maybe even put up reflectors to send more sunlight to Earth. Once we get into space we can increase or decrease total Earth heating easily as needed. That's the real reason for space technology if you're worried about ecology on Earth. We can avoid both ice ages and runaway greenhouse effect by actively controlling the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth. Without space technology, restricted to ground-based methods, it's very hard to control the overall temperature of the Earth and avoid natural temperature disasters or disasterous side-effects of civilization.