The Solar Shade
Cooling the planet is easier than you'd expect (and it hits two birds with one stone)!
The Concept
Solar shades. A surprisingly simple tool that we could use today. Solar shades are mirrors that block out the light from the sun, and redirect it away from its original path. Originally proposed by Paul Birch in 1991, solar shades are slatted mirrors that are placed at a point between the planet and sun called the L1 point, which basically allows the mirrors to block out the sun's rays at all times as it takes the same amount of time to orbit as the planet it's assigned to (Cornish, 1998).
Solar Shades on Venus
Placing the solar shades at the L1 point of Venus will block out the sun from Venus. The first mirror would have a 30° angle instead of facing straight at the sun, and each next mirror would have a small degree of change, so that the light can be redirected to the back of the planet, where it is reflected by back mirrors so that the light can bounce back and keep the balance on the mirrors.
