London, Sept 14 (ANI): A huge balloon flying 12.4 miles high attached to the ground by a giant hosepipe may one day help save the planet from global warming, scientists say.
A prototype balloon has been built and will be hoisted into the air next month from a disused airfield in Norfolk in a 200,000-pound experiment.
It is a radical attempt to investigate 'geo-engineering', a controversial process in which humans try to manipulate the climate.
The idea is that millions of tiny chemical particles will act as a mirror and reflect the Sun's rays to stop the planet heating up.
Produced by scientists at Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and Edinburgh Universities, the 660ft-long balloons would be positioned far out to sea if the plan is approved.
They say just ten balloons - pouring ten million tons of material into the stratosphere every year - could achieve a 2c drop in global temperature in two years.
Next month's test will use a smaller, 62ft balloon, suspended about half a mile above the ground and using a hose to pump out harmless water droplets to see if the technology works. (ANI)
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