Israeli Scientists Launch Chilling Plan to Block the Sun

“It will affect the whole world.” What could possibly go wrong?

This article originally appeared on Jon Fleetwood’s Substack and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Jon Fleetwood

Wired.com is reporting that “a mysterious startup is developing a new form of solar geoengineering.”

An Israeli–U.S. startup called Stardust “intends to patent its unique aerosol technology for temporarily cooling the planet.”

Formed in 2023, Stardust wants to develop “proprietary geoengineering technology that would help block sun rays from reaching the planet.”

The company is based in Israel but incorporated in the United States.

Instead of universities and federal agencies, Stardust wants private companies to drive the development and deployment of “technologies that experts say could have profound consequences for the planet.”

The company seeks a “deliberate transformation of the atmosphere” that “has never been done.”

Wired points out that if Stardust’s geoengineering technology goes live, “it will affect the whole world.”

The news outlet emphasizes the danger: “If a geoengineering project went awry, for example, it could contribute to air pollution and ozone loss, or have dramatic effects on weather patterns, such as disrupting monsoons in populous South and East Asia.”

Stardust has kept its plans largely secret and “the company has not publicly released details about its technology, its business model, or exactly who works at its company.”

The secretive organization also wants to sell its “proprietary geoengineering technology to governments that are considering making modifications to the global climate—acting like a kind of defense contractor for climate alteration.”

Stardust is moving forward despite “few national and international rules and limited oversight.”

In fact, “a recent report by the company’s former climate governance consultant, Janos Pasztor, called for the company to increase its transparency, engagement, and communication with outsiders,” according to Wired.

Pasztor says Stardust doesn’t have a “social license” for geoengineering activities, meaning the company has apparently not been open to public or peer scrutiny about its intentions.

It hasn’t published any of its research and has no code of conduct.

Stardust’s CEO and cofounder Yanai Yedvab is a former deputy chief scientist at the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, an agency that “oversees the country’s clandestine nuclear program.”

Stardust has 25 physicists, chemists, and engineers.

Its chief product officer Amyad Spector is a physicist and a former employee of Israel’s nuclear research program.

Stardust plans include distributing proprietary aerosol particles “through a machine mounted on an aircraft.”

The company is currently “engineering the particle and a prototype of the aircraft mount, as well as developing a system for modeling and monitoring the climatic effects.”

It plans to test those particles in the stratosphere in the coming year.

Copyright 2025 Jon Fleetwood

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