Bright Idea or Shady Scheme? Cosmetic Company Wants to Lighten Moon to make it brighter

A cosmetics company's atempt to brighten the surface of the moon

Geoengineering schemes, even serious ones,
often seem a little wacky. But the latest tops
them all: a pitch by a cosmetics company to
brighten the surface of the moon.


No, they don't plan to slather on a little
concealer. According to the company the idea is to use materials already on the moon to lighten its surface.

The goal is to reflect slightly more
sunlight onto Earth, making the night sky
brighter. A brighter night sky would mean less
need for streetlights, which could potentially
translate to less electricity usage and thus
fewer globe-warming carbon emissions, company
representatives say.
"We want to raise public awareness about the
project and generate consciousness about the
global energy crisis," said Paul Peros, CEO of
Foreo.

however scientists are skeptical.
"Making the moon brighter is not something I've ever heard of in the geoengineering
literature," said Ben Kravitz, a postdoctoral researcher in the atmospheric sciences and global change division of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

You'd need nearly 400,000 full moons in
the sky to match the brightness of Earth's sun,
according to Space.com. Most geoengineering
schemes focus on blocking or reflecting the
sun's rays to cool the climate and offset the
effects of greenhouse-gas emissions.


The company claims to have
raised $52 million for research and testing, but
it would not reveal the sources of the
investment. A timeline on the company's
website says its first moon mission is slated for
2020, with new rovers deploying every three
years

Could it work?
Leaving aside the question of how a cosmetics
company intends to spearhead multiple moon
missions, the question remains:

Would brightening the moon really make a difference on Earth ?

Increasing the moon's reflectivity (or called
"albedo") would, indeed, send more light
toward Earth, said Alan Robock, a climatologist
at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. Of
course, this would make no difference for
nighttime lighting needs during cloudy weather,
or when the moon was new. The extra light
would probably heat Earth slightly, Robock told
Live Science, "but probably not much."
"Have you ever noticed that it is warmer on
nights with a full moon?" he said. "Me neither."
The technical challenges would be a problem.
The company says it plans to use materials
already available on the surface of the moon to
brighten it, but it's not clear how that would
work. Pero said the company is investigating
simply smoothing over a portion of the moon's
surface to increase its reflectivity.


"If, somehow, they could paint part of the moon
whiter, it would get dirty over time," Robock
said.
Even if such a mission were successful, the side
effects could be unpleasant.

Light at night has alot of unpleasant side
effects

Light at night can
disrupt sleep and has been linked to increases
in several types of cancer in lab animals. Some
studies suggest that nighttime light exposure
may also contribute to obesity.

Foreo isn't the first organization to look for a
creative way to cut back on the use of
streetlights; in 2010, University of Cambridge
undergraduates in the International Genetically
Engineered Machines competition proposed
bioengineering plants with genes from fireflies
and marine bacteria to create bioluminescent
trees to light roads and path. source: livescience