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The planet does not need the power; it gets all it needs. It is used in space. They don't crash into each other for the same reason our satellites (mostly) don

by ncmncm 4y ago

The planet does not need the power; it gets all it needs. It is used in space. They don't crash into each other for the same reason our satellites (mostly) don't: they are in selected orbits. But if we have not worked out aneutronic fusion by the time we would be able to build something like this, you might as well write off humanity. By then all the action will be out in the Kuiper Belt, where the truly valuable resource is: cold.

vinaypai 4y ago
> They don't crash into each other for the same reason our satellites (mostly) don't: they are in selected orbits. Real world orbits != Kerbal space program orbits Things don't stay put in an orbit because the (a) earth isn't a perfect uniform sphere (b) gravitational influences from the rest of the solar system will perturb things. Satellites needs regular stationkeeping to keep them in specific orbits. And that is even though low earth orbit is mostly empty. There are only about 27,000 "objects larger than a softball" according to NASA's orbital debris and spacecraft tracking. To build a Dyson swarm you'd need to scale that up trillions of times to capture a significant portion of the Sun's output.
- cletus 4y ago
  The worst case is orbitals will require some active stationkeeping. If your civilization goes the route of interstellar highways well you already have the ability to focus a large amount of power on a sail of some sort to give propulsion. You could use exactly the same thing to correct orbits. It's also worth noting that orbitals around the Sun are a whole lot bigger volume than orbits around the Earth. LEO orbits have a radius of 6500-7000km. The Earth is 150,000,000km from the Sun so the radius of that is about 8 orders of magnitude more. If you assume orbits between Venus and Mars and include orbits off the Solar plane, the math for a full Dyson swarm the math (IIRC) works out to a mean distance between orbitals of around 100,000km, even with trillions of them.
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    Probably all the orbits are well off the ecliptic, and they turn off their lasers when near it, to keep travel within the ecliptic safe. Stray light from all those x-ray lasers blasting in all directions 24/7 ought to make anything like this easy to spot.
- skykooler 4y ago
  Satellites in a Dyson swarm can use the Sun's light for stationkeeping, acting as a solar sail. It doesn't work that well at Earth's distance to the sun but the swarm would be much closer to maximise power production per satellite.
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    Presumably the energy would then be delivered to where it is needed via laser. With so many high-power laser beams going all the time, inner-system navigation might be hazardous. All the more reason to stay out in the Kuiper Belt.

by ncmncm 4y ago

vinaypai 4y ago

> They don't crash into each other for the same reason our satellites (mostly) don't: they are in selected orbits. Real world orbits != Kerbal space program orbits Things don't stay put in an orbit because the (a) earth isn't a perfect uniform sphere (b) gravitational influences from the rest of the solar system will perturb things. Satellites needs regular stationkeeping to keep them in specific orbits. And that is even though low earth orbit is mostly empty. There are only about 27,000 "objects larger than a softball" according to NASA's orbital debris and spacecraft tracking. To build a Dyson swarm you'd need to scale that up trillions of times to capture a significant portion of the Sun's output.

cletus 4y ago
The worst case is orbitals will require some active stationkeeping. If your civilization goes the route of interstellar highways well you already have the ability to focus a large amount of power on a sail of some sort to give propulsion. You could use exactly the same thing to correct orbits. It's also worth noting that orbitals around the Sun are a whole lot bigger volume than orbits around the Earth. LEO orbits have a radius of 6500-7000km. The Earth is 150,000,000km from the Sun so the radius of that is about 8 orders of magnitude more. If you assume orbits between Venus and Mars and include orbits off the Solar plane, the math for a full Dyson swarm the math (IIRC) works out to a mean distance between orbitals of around 100,000km, even with trillions of them.
- ncmncm 4y ago
  Probably all the orbits are well off the ecliptic, and they turn off their lasers when near it, to keep travel within the ecliptic safe. Stray light from all those x-ray lasers blasting in all directions 24/7 ought to make anything like this easy to spot.
skykooler 4y ago
Satellites in a Dyson swarm can use the Sun's light for stationkeeping, acting as a solar sail. It doesn't work that well at Earth's distance to the sun but the swarm would be much closer to maximise power production per satellite.
- ncmncm 4y ago
  Presumably the energy would then be delivered to where it is needed via laser. With so many high-power laser beams going all the time, inner-system navigation might be hazardous. All the more reason to stay out in the Kuiper Belt.