Tkacz

DimSun Dust Cloud - NASA awards $175K for geoengineering SRM research through its NIAC program. The project (est. $134 billion) places a controlled cloud of engineered spherical regolith particles (material from asteroids or other small Solar System bodies) at the Sun-Earth L1 point to reduce solar insolation by 1.16%, influenced by EMF (electric magnetic frequency) via spacecraft. The particles are 0.3-micrometer-radius spheres that are 90% hollow, designed with a high charge-to-mass ratio so they can be manipulated by electric fields while remaining lightweight enough to scatter sunlight efficiently. Earlier uncontrolled dust-cloud ideas required replenishment roughly every 100 days as particles drifted away under solar radiation pressure. DimSun’s approach uses multiple “shepherd” spacecraft generating electrostatic (Coulomb) repulsive forces via long tethers to actively hold and shape the charged particle cloud in place, eliminating the need for constant resupply. The system is designed to be reversible—deactivating the spacecraft would allow the cloud to disperse within about 100 days. A full operational system is roughly estimated at $134 billion (one-time, with margin). The NIAC award funds research only, not deployment or an official NASA mission. The Team: - Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay – Robotics Technologist, NASA JPL (lead) - Sriramya Bhamidipati – Aerospace/autonomy, NASA JPL - Maira Saboia da Silva – Robotics/multi-agent systems, NASA JPL - Mark T. Richardson – Climate/Earth science, NASA JPL - Maria Z. Hakuba – Climate/radiation scientist, NASA JPL - Matthew D. Lebsock – Atmospheric/cloud scientist, NASA JPL - Aditya A. Paranjape – Aerospace engineer, Monash University - Angadh Nanjangud – Aerospace/materials engineer, Queen Mary University of London - Tushar Jadhav – Space systems engineer, Manastu Space - Carl J. Percival – Atmospheric chemist, NASA JPL - Evan F. Fishbein – Atmospheric scientist (inverse & information theory for microwave/infrared radiometry), NASA JPL - John T. Reager – Hydrology/Earth science, NASA JPL - Amir Rahmani – Robotics/multi-agent autonomy, NASA JPL ~@Tboo211