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Can you build decentralized fusion reactors? This far the most efficient fusion reactor humanity has available to it exists approximately 1 AU away and is rathe
by MadnessASAP 2y ago
Can you build decentralized fusion reactors? This far the most efficient fusion reactor humanity has available to it exists approximately 1 AU away and is rather difficult to relocate.
- orbital-decay 2y agoFor comparison, how efficient is the biggest Dyson Sphere humanity built so far?
- vitiral 2y agoWell we have a very incomplete but about 10-15% efficient Dyson swarm on earth with solar and wind farms. Now we just need to scale up.
- aurareturn 2y agoPretty sure solar panels are 20% plus now with some much higher.
- vitiral 2y agoJust did a Google search. Most cells which are actually produced are 10-11%.
- aurareturn 2y agoMost residential deployments are near 20% or higher.
- vitiral 2y agoGood call, doing the search with those keywords yielded similar results
- TheLoafOfBread 2y agoThat will be average efficiency, because during night solar panels usually don't work, unless you live in Spain https://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/scandal-solar-power-spain-chris-horner/ https://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/scandal-solar-pow...
- Karellen 2y agoI thought the efficiency of a Dyson sphere/swarm was typically measured by how much of the star's total power was being used? We are not capturing 10-15% of the sun's total power output.
- vitiral 2y agoWell, by that metric we have 0.0000000001% of a Dyson sphere created.
- kiba 2y agoDon't forget the farms that feed humans and their farm animals.
- vitiral 2y agoWell, the entire ecosystem and weather is fed by solar. It would be interesting to think about what it's "efficiency" would be...
- belter 2y agoWhich Lazarus Cycle are you referring to?
- tomtomistaken 2y ago> Can you build decentralized fusion reactors? My guess is that if you can build Dyson spheres you can build fusion reactors. > This far the most efficient fusion reactor humanity has available to it exists approximately 1 AU away Efficient in terms of what? With what are you comparing it to?
- throwaway11460 2y agoDyson spheres can be very low tech. To reiterate, it's a swarm of objects orbiting the star, not a rigid sphere. If you have the time and raw resources, it was possible with 1960s technology.
- varjag 2y agoIt was not possible at all with 1960s technology, nor it is possible today.
- skirmish 2y agoAre you claiming that it is not possible to put a satellite into an orbit around the Sun? Please take a look at how many times this has been done already: [1]. Now just capture Sun's energy on one and do something useful with it: part of Dyson swarm. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_objects_in_heliocentric_orbit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_objects_in_... .
- TheLoafOfBread 2y agoHow do you get energy from there? How do you deal with waste heat of satellite which is being heated up by sun from one side and heated up by your mode of energy transfer from the other side? Unless we have some magical solution which can convert waste heat into electricity and thus making such satellite working with 100% effectivity, then such satellite needs to transmit energy with very limited power otherwise it will fry itself up.