Billionaire Bill Gates will launch a project to spread millions of tonnes of chalk into the stratosphere in the future to reflect sunlight and slow global warming, but critics fear it could be disastrous.

The project is due to be tested for the first time in June 2021

The project will be launched via a balloon this summer from the town of Kiruna. It will send 2kg of chalk into the stratosphere 12 miles above the Earth’s surface. Scientists will then monitor how the chalk particles interact with the atmosphere.

Bill Gates wants to spread chalk into the stratosphere to dim the Sun to cool the Earth – Bill Gates
Photo: @Dailymail.
The data will then be fed into computer models to predict how the method would work. The idea is to ‘block’ some of the Sun’s energy from falling on the Earth, cooling it down. The first test could be conducted in June 2021 in the Swedish town of Kiruna.

Harvard University experts will test this system, by sending a balloon carrying 600 kg of scientific equipment and 2 kg of chalk dust and dropping it into the stratosphere.

After all, the purpose of the $ 3 million mission backed by billionaire Bill Gates is to make this layer of chalk deflect some of the Sun’s radiation, preventing it from affecting the surface and cooling our planet.

Bill Gates wants to spread chalk in the stratosphere to dim the Sun to reduce the heat for the Earth – Bill Gates 3
Photo: @Dailymail.
Harvard University experts simulate that after the chalk dust is dropped, it will create a dust cloud a few kilometers long, not large enough to have any effect on the intensity of the Sun’s rays hitting the Earth. In this first test, the team will collect information about how the pollen particles react with the air.

This data can then be fed into computer models to determine what would happen if the project were implemented on a larger scale.

Keutsch, who is on the project, told the Times that he wanted to determine the real impact, as current models ‘may be quite optimistic’ and the technique looked very appealing. This would reflect some of the Sun’s rays and heat back into space, dimming the rays that pass through and thus protecting Earth from the ravages of a warming climate.

Experts say the idea could be a double disaster

However, since its announcement, the idea has been heavily criticised, with space projects director Frank Keutsch even calling it a ‘creepy’ piece of geoengineering.

International experts have also warned that the unusual technique could cause catastrophic weather systems in ways no one can predict, and could also potentially damage the ozone layer that protects us from dangerous ultraviolet radiation, causing damage to human DNA and increasing the risk of cancer.

Bill Gates wants to spread chalk in the stratosphere to dim the Sun to cool the Earth – Bill Gates 2
Photo: @Dailymail.
Edinburgh University professor Stuart Haszeldine told the Times that blocking the sun would be nothing if the main cause of global warming was not eliminated.

He explained that if we do not tackle pollution, we will first have more pollution entering the stratosphere, which will change the color of the daytime sky and increase the temperature, which we call a double disaster if the source of the pollution is not addressed.

Professor David King, from the University of Cambridge, told The Times that there should be a moratorium on the deployment of the technique. He said it could be catastrophic for weather systems in ways that no one could predict, so data should be gathered through chemical modelling and other techniques that are less directly involved.