In a story that sounds ripped from a dystopian sci-fi film, a group of elite researchers quietly launched an experiment to dim the sun—without telling the public. Their goal? To cool the planet by creating artificial clouds. Their fear? That Americans might panic if they knew.
But their secret didn’t last long.
The covert test, conducted by scientists at the University of Washington aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Hornet, was shut down within 20 minutes last year by furious Alameda city officials, who say they were blindsided.
“We found out through the New York Times,” fumed Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft. “No one consulted the city. We weren’t warned. That’s unacceptable.”
The test was part of the Marine Cloud Brightening Program, a controversial effort to reflect sunlight back into space by spraying fine sea salt particles into the air. The technique, known as solar geoengineering, has long been debated in scientific circles. But now, thanks to political secrecy, billionaire backers, and rising global temperatures, it’s entered dangerous new territory.
Billionaires, Backroom Deals, and a Global Climate Experiment
According to over 400 internal documents obtained by E&E News, the failed California test was just the beginning. The real plan? A massive 3,900-square-mile sun-dimming experiment off the coasts of North America, Chile, or Africa—so large it could be seen from space.
“Meaningful changes in cloud reflectivity will be observable via satellite,” boasted a 2023 internal research memo. The team even sought U.S. Navy ships and government planes to support the operation, hoping to get federal backing before the public caught wind.
That plan collapsed fast.
Trump’s reelection in November 2024 signaled a hard stop for taxpayer funding of what critics call “climate meddling.” The Trump administration has made its position clear: “We don’t experiment with the weather,” a senior official told us under condition of anonymity. “We invest in American energy, not Frankenstein science.”
The White House declined formal comment.
The Money Behind the Weather Machine
Behind the scenes, a group of powerful tech billionaires bankrolled the operation. Among them:
- Chris Larsen, the crypto mogul behind Ripple.
- Rachel Pritzker, heir to the Pritzker fortune.
- Chris Sacca, a flamboyant venture capitalist known for Shark Tank appearances and early investments in Twitter and Uber.
Larsen defended the research in an email: “We’re not trying to play God. We’re trying to fill the gaps. The planet is burning, and scientists are under political attack. Research like this could buy time.”
Neither Pritzker nor Sacca responded to comment requests.
Science or Scandal?
Public backlash isn’t new for solar geoengineering. In 2021, a similar Harvard project in the Arctic—called SCoPEx—was scrapped after Indigenous groups and environmentalists condemned it as colonial and dangerous.
“The public deserves a seat at the table before anyone starts messing with the sky,” said Dr. Sikina Jinnah, a UC Santa Cruz climate policy expert who previously advised SCoPEx. “These are global implications, not private experiments.”
But not everyone agrees.
“If we needed a global consensus for every controversial study, science would grind to a halt,” said Dr. David Keith, a University of Chicago professor and one of the original SCoPEx leaders. “Careful field tests are better than flying blind.”
A Nation in the Dark
Perhaps the most alarming part? How much of this was done in secret.
Emails reveal that researchers had already pitched the large-scale experiment to government agencies and consultants—before the small-scale Alameda trial even launched. Partners included NOAA and consulting giant Accenture. Neither responded to comment requests.
And despite public outcry, no one knows whether the researchers or their backers have given up.
SilverLining, the nonprofit coordinating the project, has stayed mostly silent. Its director, Kelly Wanser, only offered a vague comment: “We’re trying to fill critical knowledge gaps.”
Trump Admin Moves to Ban Sun-Dimming Tests
With public trust eroding and conspiracy theories flourishing, the Trump White House is now reportedly weighing a ban on all geoengineering field experiments on U.S. soil—or airspace.
Senator JD Vance (R-OH) has already proposed legislation that would make unauthorized climate manipulation a federal crime. “This isn’t science—it’s recklessness,” he told Fox News. “The American people didn’t vote for this. We don’t want billionaire-backed sky spraying.”
Whether that bill passes or not, the message from Washington is clear: Under President Trump, the days of rogue climate experiments are over.
Still, for many Americans, one question lingers.
What else are they doing to the sky that we don’t know about?
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Read the Bible God already knows what they plan
Wasn’t that what caused the deadly flooding in Texas this last time?
Again people who say we’re not playing God but are messing with a planet they didn’t create because they know better than who created it & basically saying he didn’t know what he was doing.