Scientists have proposed an ambitious plan to move the Earth away from the Sun in a bid to keep it habitable for our 9.1 billion years.
An independent researcher Gabriel Harry, whose paper has been accepted by the Journal of British Interplanetary Sciences, has proposed to expand the Earth’s orbit to counter the Sun’s expected red giant phase in about 5 billion years.
Harry proposed re-engineering the solar system by using a continuous beam of oxygen extracted from Jupiter to expand the Earth’s orbit from 1 AU to 1.2 AU over eons, meaning the Earth will have a much greater chance of survival against the Sun’s red giant phase.
Astronomers predict that over the next five billion years, the Sun will exhaust hydrogen fuel in its core and expand. It has been predicted that during the giant phase the Sun will engulf Mercury and Venus and Earth will be sitting very close to getting engulfed.
Harry hasn’t challenged the prediction; however, he proposed a three phase solution to prevent Earth from getting eaten up by the Sun.
Stage 1: Block some of the Sun’s heat to stop Earth from getting too hot.
The first step would be to block some of the Sun’s heat from reaching Earth. This would give humans more time to deal with the Sun getting hotter as it gets older.
However, there is a big problem: blocking sunlight would also reduce the light and warmth that plants, animals and humans need to survive.
Stage 2: Turn Jupiter into a giant power source to give Earth light and heat.
The plan suggests putting huge fusion reactors about 6,500 kilometres inside Jupiter’s atmosphere, where they could use Jupiter’s huge supply of hydrogen and helium to produce energy.
That energy would then be sent toward a point between Jupiter and the Sun called L1 and beamed toward Earth using lasers. In simple terms, Jupiter would become an artificial source of light and heat for Earth.
Stage 3: Slowly push Earth farther away from the Sun so it stays safe as the Sun gets bigger.
The most difficult step would be moving Earth itself. The plan suggests slowly pushing Earth from its current distance of 1 astronomical unit (AU) to about 1.2 AU from the Sun. This extra distance could help keep Earth safe when the Sun eventually becomes much larger and enters its red giant stage.
To move Earth, scientists could use a powerful beam of oxygen taken from Jupiter. The beam would be fired past Earth continuously, and the force created by the moving oxygen would slowly push our planet into a wider orbit.
The amount of oxygen needed would be enormous, roughly equal to half the water flowing through the Amazon River, and the Sun, Earth and Jupiter would need to stay in the correct positions for the plan to work.
It is pertinent to note that no space agency or government has picked up the plan yet.
2026-08-07 18:51:00
