Do you think the risk can be adequately and feasibly underwritten?
I mean, I suppose that technically a lone satellite with solar panels in orbit around the Sun is probably an extremely limited form of a Dyson sphere — it’s not as if there’s some firm lower bound on what percentage of energy output from the star that needs to be captured. One could presumably scale up incrementally.
So, in that technical sense, sure.
Could humanity in 2025 aspire to build enough infrastructure to capture something like 1% of the Sun’s output? No, that’s just way beyond our capabilities now.
I mean, I suppose that technically a lone satellite with solar panels in orbit around the Sun is probably an extremely limited form of a Dyson sphere — it’s not as if there’s some firm lower bound on what percentage of energy output from the star that needs to be captured. One could presumably scale up incrementally.
By that definition the solar panels that are already on the Earth are a tiny Dyson swarm. And honestly, I approve.
They aren’t in orbit, and they aren’t in orbit around a star, so not really part of a Dyson swarm (and also technically don’t add to the energy available to our civilization), but I still approve of your solar panels. You could argue that the ISS or the few solar orbit satellites we have are the start of a Dyson swarm even if they don’t add to our energy pool.
Well, I’m pretty sure the Earth is in orbit around a star [citation needed], so I would think solar panels on Earth would also be in orbit around a star.
If it were to be technically feasible, what would that have to look like? If you found a way for every insurance company on Earth to jointly underwrite part of the risk, is it theoretically possible?
I wonder if there would even be enough accessible matter (on Earth) to manufacture such a crazy thing and I havent even considered or am unaware of how it would even be possible to manufacture even if we technically could
For a power-collecting Dyson sphere you don’t actually need all that much matter. Most of the sphere’s area can be thin metal foil that just acts as a mirror to concentrate light on power converters, for example. You could build it with asteroidal material.
If you really want to get massive, then Mercury is usually the first target people propose for demolition. Lots of heavy elements and already close in to the Sun. And nobody cares much about Mercury.
Do you think the risk can be adequately and feasibly underwritten?
I mean, I suppose that technically a lone satellite with solar panels in orbit around the Sun is probably an extremely limited form of a Dyson sphere — it’s not as if there’s some firm lower bound on what percentage of energy output from the star that needs to be captured. One could presumably scale up incrementally.
So, in that technical sense, sure.
Could humanity in 2025 aspire to build enough infrastructure to capture something like 1% of the Sun’s output? No, that’s just way beyond our capabilities now.
By that definition the solar panels that are already on the Earth are a tiny Dyson swarm. And honestly, I approve.
They aren’t in orbit, and they aren’t in orbit around a star, so not really part of a Dyson swarm (and also technically don’t add to the energy available to our civilization), but I still approve of your solar panels. You could argue that the ISS or the few solar orbit satellites we have are the start of a Dyson swarm even if they don’t add to our energy pool.
Well, I’m pretty sure the Earth is in orbit around a star [citation needed], so I would think solar panels on Earth would also be in orbit around a star.
Not currently. We have no plan to make one.
If it were to be technically feasible, what would that have to look like? If you found a way for every insurance company on Earth to jointly underwrite part of the risk, is it theoretically possible?
I wonder if there would even be enough accessible matter (on Earth) to manufacture such a crazy thing and I havent even considered or am unaware of how it would even be possible to manufacture even if we technically could
Not enough resources exist currently that are accessible to us, and not enough money exists to pay workers to get the job done.
On earth? No, not by a long shot. We would need to get into the deconstructing planets business.
For a power-collecting Dyson sphere you don’t actually need all that much matter. Most of the sphere’s area can be thin metal foil that just acts as a mirror to concentrate light on power converters, for example. You could build it with asteroidal material.
If you really want to get massive, then Mercury is usually the first target people propose for demolition. Lots of heavy elements and already close in to the Sun. And nobody cares much about Mercury.
Or at the very least, the entire asteroid belt would put a good dent in it.
Sure, what would be the obstacle? You start by building a single solar energy collector. Then build another. Then another. And so forth.