A team of Harvard researchers is preparing a first-of-its-kind field experiment in the hotly-debated area of solar geoengineering, the controversial idea to combat climate change by pumping aerosols into the sky to reflect the sun’s rays back into space.

The study will be the first to actually shoot tiny amounts of material into the stratosphere to study solar geoengineering — although researchers caution they will start with water vapor and won’t exceed volumes over 1 kilogram of any substance.

Yet the concept of intentionally modifying the earth’s atmosphere as a corrective for global warming is highly contentious, even among those who believe it could one day be used responsibly.

“The idea that you could even think about adjusting the temperature of the planet is terrifying,” said Frank Keutsch, one of the Harvard scientists leading the study. “But the consequences of climate change are also quite terrifying. This is a very serious subject.”

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Research is needed to understand the concept better, Keutsch said — including what could go wrong if somebody tries it.

“The big risk with stratospheric geoengineering is unforeseen consequences,” Keutsch said. A key goal, he said, “is to better understand some of the risks.”

Keutsch and his colleagues plan to send a balloon equipped with sensors and propellers 20 kilometers above Earth from a launch site near Tucson, AZ. There, the balloon will spray water into the stratosphere, creating a plume of floating ice crystals one kilometer long and 100 meters wide.

The balloon, attached to a gondola system and controlled by engineers on the ground, will then move through the artificial ice cloud slowly, taking measurements.