Luke Iseman, the founder of Make Sunsets, is about to launch a weather balloon filled with sulfur dioxide and helium into the air in Nevada.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
Solar geoengineering startup that had to cease operations in Mexico after the government shot down the idea of putting chemicals in the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from Earth has resurrected to launch balloons in Nevada.
On Tuesday, Make Sunsets announced it had completed three balloon launches near Reno, Nevada, each containing less than 10 grams of sulfur dioxide, which is the most commonly placed aerosol particle discussed in conversations about solar energy technology. Two of the balloons launched also had location trackers, and one also had a camera.
The the idea of solar geoengineering has been around for decades and generally refers to spraying aerosol particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays away from Earth and back into space, cooling the Earth and temporarily mitigating the effects of climate change.
Basically, solar geoengineering mimics what happens when a volcano erupts, and it’s known to work. When Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines released thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere during the 1991 eruption, the Earth’s global temperature was lowered by average by about 1 degree Fahrenheitaccording to the US Geological Survey.
Solar geoengineering is not a solution to climate change, and no one who studies it closely suggests that it should be. It is a temporary stopgap measure.
Furthermore, while sulfur dioxide particles will cool the Earth quickly and relatively cheaply, it is also dangerous. Injecting sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere can damage the ozone layer, cause respiratory diseases and create acid rain.
But as the effects of climate change become more apparent, people are starting to take the idea more seriously.
The White House coordinates one five-year research plan into solar geoengineering, the four-year UN-supported The Montreal Protocol assessment the report included an entire chapter dealing with stratospheric aerosol injection (more commonly known as solar geoengineering), and Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebookfunds solar geoengineering research through its philanthropic organization, Open Philanthropy.
While momentum is building, there are no international governing rules on how to study and possibly regulate the idea.
Luke Iseman, a serial inventor and former head of hardware at Y Combinator, launched Make sunsets in October in an attempt to push that envelope. Venture capital firm headquartered in San Mateo BoostVC invested $500,000 in the startup and Iseman brought in a co-founder, Andrew Song.
The launch in Nevada earlier in February took place at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park in Reno, , where an annual hot air balloon festival takes placeIseman told CNBC.
They chose Nevada “because it’s in the US, we’re very confident we know and followed all the applicable rules, know the terrain well from past adventures, and we didn’t want to interfere with a friend’s efforts to get a marine cloud brightening project allowed in California, Iseman told CNBC.
The launch in Nevada was previously detailed by Time reporters, who was there. It was a shoestring MacGyver-ed event orchestrated from a hotel room, complete with barbecue and weather balloon equipment. But, as seen in the photos below, shared with CNBC by Make Sunsets, the balloons took off.
The Make Sunsets team fills a bag with sulfur dioxide to prepare for the launch.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
The Make Sunsets team weighs the bag filled with sulfur dioxide gas in a bag to prepare for launch.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
Make Sunsets fill the balloon with helium here.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
Here, founder Luke Iseman prepares to release the weather balloon filled with sulfur dioxide and helium into the atmosphere. Make Sunsets says this is the first deployment of SAI, or stratospheric aerosol injection, another and more specific name for solar geoengineering.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
Luke Iseman, the founder of Make Sunsets, is about to launch a weather balloon filled with sulfur dioxide and helium into the air in Nevada.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
Have the Sunsets launch a weather balloon filled with sulfur dioxide and helium into the Nevada air.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
A view from the Make Sunsets balloon launched in Nevada.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
A view from the Make Sunsets balloon launched in Nevada.
Photo courtesy of Make Sunsets
Iseman has both idealistic and practical goals.
“The bottom line: we have to cool the Earth to save millions of lives, hundreds of thousands of species, and buy the time we need to decarbonize,” Iseman told CNBC.
To make the business sustainable, Make Sunsets sells cooling credits, giving businesses and individuals a way to offset the effects of their carbon emissions. But the startup has yet to deliver.
“We have 2,790 refrigeration credits ordered by 58 paying customers that we have yet to deliver,” Iseman told CNBC. “On the one hand, we’re working hard on a controversial project to cool the Earth. On the other hand, we’re a startup with the same basic challenge as everyone else: getting customers to pay more for what we sell than it costs to make it.”
Make Sunsets said it made the FAA aware it was releasing a balloon.
The FAA provided the following statement: “The FAA has extensive regulations for the safe operation of unmanned free balloons. The regulations require, among other things, that the balloon be equipped to be tracked by radar, and that the operator notify the FAA before and at the time of launch, monitor and record the course of the balloon, make position reports to the FAA as requested and notify the FAA when the balloon begins its descent and its expected trajectory.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated what the balloons contained. All three had sulfur dioxide.
