Century-Long Monitoring of Solar Irradiance and Earth's Albedo Using a Stable Scattering Target in Space

Abstract

An inert sphere of a few meters diameter, placed in a special stable geosynchronous orbit in perpetuo, can be used for a variety of scientific experiments. Ground-based observations of such a sphere, "GeoSphere", can resolve very difficult problems in measuring the long-term solar irradiance. GeoSphere measurements will also help us understand the evolution of Earth's albedo and climate over at least the next century.

5 pages, accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (2)

• Patterns of photometric and chromospheric variation among Sun-like stars: A 20-year perspective
• The Sun-like activity of the solar twin 18 Scorpii

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Sun-like Stars Shed Light on Solar Climate Forcing