A Conceptual Framework for Climate Change Mitigation Actions Employing In-Space Geoengineering

The possibility of direct climate action from space in the form of reversible in-space geoengineering introduces novel concepts for large scale space systems and applications to achieve desirable long-term outcomes for planet Earth. The objective of this paper is to broadly address opportunities for innovation and collaboration in building and advancing the future vision of transformational in-space geoengineering architectures. In this paper, we introduce a conceptual framework for in-space geoengineering, for comparing different approaches and driving progress across the entire span of complex issues that are involved. These include mission specific considerations, policy, economic/industrial viability, and operational aspects. The proposed framework will provide a point of departure for future research design and development activities and a reference for evaluating the feasibility, readiness level, and sustainability of alternative architecture concepts based on objective criteria.