Weather Machine

Weather machines are tiny airborne spherical aerostats filled with hydrogen and helium, each with an adjustable mirror designed to control the flow of sunlight into, and the flow of radiated energy out of a planetary atmosphere.

The flat mirrored surface which can be adjusted to any angle using micromotors. When a sufficiently large swarm of weather machines of this type are introduced into an atmosphere, the mirrors can be adjusted to reflect insolation (incident solar radiation) back into space (providing a cooling effect) or to reflect escaping infrared radiation back towards the ground (providing a warming effect). The spheres would typically be built with self-repair capabilities.

Later versions can be used as a planetary defence system, capable of focusing a formidable amount of energy on a hostile spaceship or NEO.

Petawatts of energy can ultimately be collected by a sufficiently dense swarm of weather machines, transmitted to ground receivers and used by the local colony for industry, transport use and computation.