Seminar

Abstract

Stardust, which was established in 2023 as a US start-up with an Israeli R&D center, is composed of 25 scientists and technological leaders from the Israeli academy, national labs and high-tech industry.

Stardust is aiming to contribute to the effort to tackle some of the main scientific challenges and develop the technological building blocks, necessary for a safe and practical deployment of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI). This work may assist decision makers in the future take an informed decision with respect to SAI potential deployment, within the framework of "Risk Vs.Risk", as stated in the White House OSTP report last year. In our view, this future decision should only be taken by governments, probably under US leadership.

Stardust's approach is based on end-to-end technological design and experimental validation to meet system requirements, first and foremost safety requirements. In the presentation this approach will be demonstrated, focusing on particle design and validation, dispersion system development, aerial platforms adaptation, and control system design, based on modeling and monitoring, which is designed to reduce the main uncertainties.

In the presentation we'll discuss the validation process, the large part of which is based on experimental work performed in collaboration with leading universities and research institutes in Israel and across the world. The challenges of conducting SAI research in the lack of agreed regulatory framework will be discussed, and Stardust's approach based on a set of voluntary self-restrictions manifested in its Code of Conduct will be presented.

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As the CEO of Stardust, Dr. Yanai Yedvab oversees the scientific and technological research of Stardust, which includes particle design and validation, dispersion system development and aerial platforms integration, and control through monitoring and modelling. In addition, Yanai leads Stardust engagement with stakeholders, including national federal agencies, thought leaders, NGOs and international organizations across the world, and particularly in the US.

Previously, for 3 decades, Yanai held senior positions in Israeli national labs and governmental R&D organizations, such as head of the physics division in Israel's Nuclear Research Center National Lab and as the deputy chief scientist of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission. He completed his Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics in Ben-Gurion University, as well as Master in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School.

ALL Seminar attendees agree not to cite, quote, copy, or distribute material presented without the explicit written consent of the seminar presenter. Any opinions expressed in this seminar are those of the speaker alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NOAA or CSL.