This 'Space Bubble' shield could counter the effects of climate change by reflecting the sun's rays

Jun 20, 2022

Space Bubbles are a variation on the common geoengineering idea of a solar shield. Image: Unsplash/CHUTTERSNAP

Rima Sabina Aouf

Writer, editor and illustrator, Freelance

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Space is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Space

The Space Bubbles proposal envisages using frozen spheres to block some of the sun's rays. Image: MIT

The Earth from space with a space bubble in front of it.

The raft would be deployed in space where it could not impact the Earth's biosphere. Image: MIT

A space bubble in front of a white sphere. Image: MIT

Discover

What’s the World Economic Forum doing about climate change?

A diagram showing the effect of a space bubble on Earth if 1.8% of solar radiation was deflected. Image: MIT

Have you read?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Space
See all

JUICE: What to know about the ESA's mission to explore Jupiter's icy moons

Stefan Ellerbeck and Ian Shine

June 8, 2023

2:09

NASA Wants to Send Your Name Into Space

Does the future of medicine lie in space?

Douglas Broom

May 17, 2023

Satellite-enabled apps can improve agriculture from space. Here's how

Nikolai Khlystov, Ryan McCullough and Ryan Degnan

May 10, 2023

Space Applications in Agriculture: Enhancing Food and Water Security, Improving Climate Action

Building telescopes on the Moon could transform astronomy – and it’s becoming an achievable goal

Ian Crawford

April 20, 2023