Thinking about climate change solutions, and the neat Silver Lining project. I’ve been wondering about additional ways of getting sea water into the atmosphere over tropical ocean. What if you used the SpinLaunch system to hurl chunks of frozen seawater high into the atmosphere. Would the ice melt in time? Would you need a small explosive charge implanted in the ice block to vaporize it? How would such a system compare in terms of cost effectiveness and generated cloud cover? It seems like an easier way to get higher-elevation clouds.
This seems totally unworkable. The ice would have to withstand thousands of gs, and it would have no reason to melt or disperse into clouds. What’s wrong with airplanes?
Airplanes are good. Just wondering if the ice launcher idea would be more cost effective. If you throw it hard enough, the air friction will melt it. If that’s infeasible, then the explosive charge is still an option. As for whether the ice could hold up against the force involved in launching or if you’d need a disposable container, unclear. Seems like an interesting engineering question though.
Thinking about climate change solutions, and the neat Silver Lining project. I’ve been wondering about additional ways of getting sea water into the atmosphere over tropical ocean. What if you used the SpinLaunch system to hurl chunks of frozen seawater high into the atmosphere. Would the ice melt in time? Would you need a small explosive charge implanted in the ice block to vaporize it? How would such a system compare in terms of cost effectiveness and generated cloud cover? It seems like an easier way to get higher-elevation clouds.
This seems totally unworkable. The ice would have to withstand thousands of gs, and it would have no reason to melt or disperse into clouds. What’s wrong with airplanes?
Airplanes are good. Just wondering if the ice launcher idea would be more cost effective. If you throw it hard enough, the air friction will melt it. If that’s infeasible, then the explosive charge is still an option. As for whether the ice could hold up against the force involved in launching or if you’d need a disposable container, unclear. Seems like an interesting engineering question though.