Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk launched a new climate "cooling plan" on X this week: deploying a group of satellites controlled by artificial intelligence to suppress global warming by slightly adjusting the amount of solar radiation the earth receives. This idea is similar to the space "parasol" program that has been discussed in academia for many years, but it has mainly remained in the theoretical stage before.
Musk proposed that this "large solar AI satellite" could adjust the energy absorbed by the earth through reflection; what's more, he claimed that with the help of a lunar factory, the annual power generation could reach one hundred terawatts. However, the scientific community has been criticizing this for a long time. Studies have shown that to produce climate effects on a considerable scale, thousands of satellites may be needed, with costs as high as hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars.
Ironically, SpaceX was recently stopped by the US Air Force from launching rockets due to environmental issues, while Musk is proposing a space plan to "save the climate."
Musk is also promoting space computing centers and high-throughput Starlink V3 satellite clusters. These next-generation satellites have a throughput of up to 1 terabits per second and are expected to become the core infrastructure of solar-powered orbital computing clusters. Critics question that "proven technologies" such as reducing emissions, improving energy efficiency, and carbon capture are more feasible than space geoengineering that often costs trillions and is difficult to implement.