Paraboloid shade at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point upper L 1 L 1 ${L}_{1}$ : dynamic stabilisation

Abstract In this work, a space-based shade at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point upper L 1 L 1 ${L}_{1}$ is considered as a mitigation strategy to combat climatic warming. It is proposed to utilise solar radiation pressure (SRP) for stabilisation and control of the shade at upper L 1 L 1 ${L}_{1}$ . Paraboloid shade geometry is proposed with an array of variable-orientation solar panels along the shade’s periphery for control purposes. It is shown that for suitable choices of the shade curvature and material density, all rotational modes as well as translational modes along the directions normal to the Earth-Sun line are inherently stable for this shade. Active control is necessary to achieve stabilisation along the Earth-Sun axis. The challenges associated with the concept and implementation are briefly examined and summarised.