Imagine the situation when Earth runs out of fuel, i.e. Coal, Nuclear fuel, etc. All we will be left with is the Sun, the constant source of energy which is not going to run out in the near future. A furnace 100 quintillion times more powerful than our most efficient nuclear reactor that shines with the energy of a trillion nuclear bombs per second. But there are many problems with solar energy, like varying intensity at different latitudes, available only in days, and only 1.316 kW per square meter of energy is incident on the Earth’s Surface.
The Solution is a Dyson Sphere.
In 1960, astrophysicist Freeman Dyson theorized another civilization that found a way to meet their ever-increasing energy and space demands. They rearranged their solar system. This hypothetical advanced civilization built a hollow sphere around their own sun and provided themselves with an incredible amount of energy and habitable real estate.
The concept was developed as part of a research paper in 1960 by the physicist Freeman Dyson. In a thought experiment, he assumed that the power needs for civilizations never stops increasing.
If our descendants could actually figure out how to enclose our star in a rigid shell, we’d have 550 million times more surface area than Earth has right now, and generate 384 Yottawatts of energy.
The idea seems great, 550 million times bigger space to live in, figuratively unlimited energy to strive upon. But there are a whole lot of problems in constructing our Utopia.
First, the amount of matter required to build such Megastructure will be more than that in all the planets and nearby asteroids and other interstellar entities in the vicinity of our solar system.
Second, let us consider if we somehow manage to smash every single planet, asteroid, and all other bodies and use them up to construct the supergiant homeworld, we won’t be getting enough gravitational pull by the sphere to hold things tight. So we will have to somehow keep this Sphere rotating at a certain constant speed.
Third, since this is an artificial habitat it won’t have an atmosphere, we will have to create an atmosphere to survive.
This seems impossible now, but let's say, 2000 years from now, we might have the required technology to achieve this Herculean task.
It's May 10, 10 PM- few hours to go!!!
As you leaf over the pages of Plugged, we hope you will enjoy our first ever edition!
The Solution is a Dyson Sphere.
The concept was developed as part of a research paper in 1960 by the physicist Freeman Dyson. In a thought experiment, he assumed that the power needs for civilizations never stops increasing.
If our descendants could actually figure out how to enclose our star in a rigid shell, we’d have 550 million times more surface area than Earth has right now, and generate 384 Yottawatts of energy.
The idea seems great, 550 million times bigger space to live in, figuratively unlimited energy to strive upon. But there are a whole lot of problems in constructing our Utopia.
First, the amount of matter required to build such Megastructure will be more than that in all the planets and nearby asteroids and other interstellar entities in the vicinity of our solar system.
Second, let us consider if we somehow manage to smash every single planet, asteroid, and all other bodies and use them up to construct the supergiant homeworld, we won’t be getting enough gravitational pull by the sphere to hold things tight. So we will have to somehow keep this Sphere rotating at a certain constant speed.
Third, since this is an artificial habitat it won’t have an atmosphere, we will have to create an atmosphere to survive.
This seems impossible now, but let's say, 2000 years from now, we might have the required technology to achieve this Herculean task.
It's May 10, 10 PM- few hours to go!!!
As you leaf over the pages of Plugged, we hope you will enjoy our first ever edition!
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