New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI, Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition. In the new paper, published earlier this summer in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers ponder what it would take to power a type 2 or type 3 civilization, whose energy needs consume their entire solar system: How could Earth become a type 2 civilization? If you built the sphere, at the optimum radial distance, then insulated the exterior as much as possible, would the gravitational redshift provide The issue seems almost well consigned to science fiction, but it is an important one when talking about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Also note that gravity is not a force in the Newtonian sense. He later clarified that he did not have in mind a solid structure, saying "A solid shell or ring surrounding a star is mechanically impossible. She's also an enthusiast of just about everything. Spellcaster Dragons Casting with legendary actions? [11][12][13], On 14 October 2015, Planet Hunters' citizen scientists discovered unusual light fluctuations of the star KIC 8462852 raising press speculation that a Dyson sphere may have been discovered. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. If you transmit it, relativity makes that complicated; if you store it, you have to lift it out of the black hole's gravity well. Additionally, the cost would depend on the specific design and capabilities of the robots required for the mission. Iron (used instead of crude steel): $0.20 per kilogram. Would that give us enough material? What is amazing about this back and forth is that if I had to assemble the same set of answers together by doing a regular Google search or by constructing written sources, it would have taken me days, if not weeks, to do it. It is estimated to be worth over $10,000 quadrillion, making it one of the most valuable objects in the solar system. Multi-junction solar cells: These are a type of solar cell that use multiple layers of semiconductor material to absorb a wider range of wavelengths of light, resulting in higher efficiency. This energy-capturing sphere would radiate its enormous waste heat out in the infrared spectrum. Therefore, we would still need to consider other sources of material, such as mining other planets or moons in the solar system or developing new methods for obtaining and processing materials, in order to construct a Dyson sphere of the size and composition you specified. "An accretion disk, a corona, and relativistic jets could be potential power stations for a Type II civilization," the researchers write. If their maximum attainable velocity is one-half lightspeed, the dyson swarm units will be able to boost away from orbit around the back hole, if they need to (just think of it as an additional safety feature). You would probably have to ground up whole planets just to get the material you need. So the efficiency $\eta$ of the BH as an energy absorber is $$\eta = \frac{A'}{\frac{A}{2}} = \frac{1.1 \times 10^8}{.6\times 10^{32}} = 2\times 10^{-24}$$. Related: 'Dyson sphere' legacy: Freeman Dyson's wild alien megastructure idea will live forever (opens in new tab) Finding valid license for project utilizing AGPL 3.0 libraries. Q: Give me a list of equipment needed to mine all the metal on Psyche. Additionally, the cost would depend on the specific design and capabilities of the drilling equipment required for the mission. New external SSD acting up, no eject option. That'd be a very interesting feature to be included. If Fine Structure Constant in not uniform in space what would that imply for cosmic background? Nothing with structural strength high enough exists, and it would require continual adjustment to not fall into the star/black hole. Q: Ok, now lets see a few examples of human support equipment equipment and their approximate costs. Dyson Sphere Program > General Discussions > Topic Details Legion One Feb 26, 2021 @ 11:10pm 3 Black Holes If you go through a black hole there should be For doing this, borrowing an idea from Olaf Stapledon, Dyson imagined the civilization taking apart a number of the planets and other material in their solar system to build a shell of material that would fully enclose their planet, thus capturing far more of the heat than what they could otherwise. The mission would involve sending a spacecraft to the asteroid to extract the desired metals. Therefore, it is likely that mining all known asteroids and the metal-rich moons of Jupiter and Saturn, as well as completely disassembling Jupiter and Mercury, would provide enough material to construct a Dyson sphere that is 1 m thick, 1 AU from the sun, and has a composition of 50% silicon, 30% carbon, and 20% metals. When NikolaiKardashev later devised a scale for classifying advanced aliens based on their capacities to harvest energy, he used the Dyson Sphere as a signature of a Type II civilization. Would 4 x 10^20 kilograms of material be enough to construct a Dyson sphere that is 1 m thick, 1 AU from the sun and is 50% silicon, 30% carbon and 20% metals? The second outlines impossibly dense regions of space and time surrounded by boundaries that separate their interiors from the rest of the cosmos. The estimated cost for a new LM90 is around $500,000. Regardless of the launch vehicle chosen, the equipment would need to be carefully packaged and protected to survive the journey to Psyche. It uses a rotary-percussive drilling method and can drill up to one meter deep. A: I apologize for the error in my previous response. The first question you are probably asking is, how can you get any energy out of a black hole? Q: Given the current prices of materials, how much would 1.901 x 10^27 kilograms of material for the above Dyson sphere cost? Give me some details on the kind of rocket or launch vehicle that would work. A black hole is a region of space with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing can escape its influence, not even light itself. The idea comes from the concept of the What information do I need to ensure I kill the same process, not one spawned much later with the same PID? The basic component is like a little brick, and we know how to build bricks to build solar panels and load them into space. Notes: Never inhabited due to launch or on-orbit failure, Part of the, Feasibility and science-based speculation, Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia, "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation", "STARSHIP CENTURY SYMPOSIUM, MAY 21 - 22, 2013", On the Inevitability and the Possible Structures of Supercivilizations, "When Will We Find the Extraterrestrials? KelvinPlanck statement and entropy derivation. The first describes vast, solar system-sized machines surrounding a star and built by a hyper-advanced civilization to harvest energy. Tungsten: Tungsten is a very hard and dense metal that could be used in the construction of the Dyson spheres high-temperature components, such as lighting filaments and electrical contacts. It could potentially be used on Psyche to explore the asteroids surface and collect data on the distribution of metal. [16][17], Although Dyson sphere systems are theoretically possible, building a stable megastructure around the sun is currently far beyond humanity's engineering capacity. If nothing else, it would be able to provide excellent starting points. Does Chain Lightning deal damage to its original target first? Dyson spheres have not been detected yet, but an advanced alien civilization would surely need them. Since you are asking, I would like to also give some information out of both interests and things that are to come. [7], Dyson-style energy collectors around a distant star would absorb and re-radiate energy from the star. The recent study suggests that instead of building a Dyson sphere around a star, a civilization can build the same megastructure around black holes. This is the point at which an Earth far into the future might need to harness the full power of the sun, and the point at which we'd become a Kardashev type 2 civilization. Only at the event horizon, the coordinate speed of light is zero, and the pencil is supposedly falling 299,792,458 m/s faster than that. It radiates a lot of energy. Dyson Spheres Around Black Holes: the Ultimate Energy Source? The results depend on the assumptions put into the model, but this contraption could collect anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of times more energy. We also discuss a possible location of a Dyson sphere around a black hole. What they find could help us reveal what a next-generation galactic civilization might look like, and even help us locate those extraterrestrials in the process. Fictional depictions often describe a solid shell of matter enclosing a star an arrangement considered by Dyson himself to be implausible. Nickel: Nickel is commonly used in alloys to improve their strength, ductility, and resistance to high temperatures, making it useful for the construction of the Dyson spheres heat-resistant components. A Type III civilization could combine them. After all, dont black holes swallow everything that falls into the event horizon, including light? Why is a "TeX point" slightly larger than an "American point"? Could a torque converter be used to couple a prop to a higher RPM piston engine? This, they say, will likely be in the form of waste heat that we can observe with infrared spectrum technology. The form of 'biosphere' which I envisaged con Q: Ok, now lets see a few examples of relevant drilling equipment and their approximate costs. A black hole forms when a large enough collection of mass comes together in a small enough space. In "San Junipero," two young women meet and fall in love from inside a server farm, while their bodies exist in vegetative states in the real world. Because of the difference in the coordinate speed of light up here as opposed to down there. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Worldbuilding Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for writers/artists using science, geography and culture to construct imaginary worlds and settings. The estimated cost of RASSOR is $15 million. This short story is a fictional account of two very real people Anaximander and Anaximenes, two ancient Greeks who tried to make sense of the universe. Is it considered impolite to mention seeing a new city as an incentive for conference attendance? Orbits near a black hole are strange and dont follow Keplers laws, and things are more interesting with rotating BHs. Solar panels: Solar panels are a common source of power for remote operations. Building one in the extreme environment around a binary system with a black hole would be even harder, especially if you wanted to capture energy from the jets. I overpaid the IRS. Based on the calculations I provided earlier, constructing a Dyson sphere of this size and composition would require approximately 9.1 x 10^25 kilograms of material. What would be its composition? One possible option would be the Space Launch System (SLS), a rocket being developed by NASA that is designed to carry heavy payloads into deep space. John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Navigation equipment: Navigation equipment is important for accurately navigating the spacecraft to the asteroid and for guiding the mining and refining operations on the asteroid. [23], Fictional Dyson spheres are typically solid structures forming a continuous shell around the star in question, although Dyson himself considered that prospect to be mechanically implausible. This is actually a rather efficient way of producing energy, since it can turn up to 40% of the rest mass of matter in the disk into radiation, much better than nuclear fission or fusion. It has a drilling depth of up to 5,000 meters and a hole diameter of up to 8 inches. Life support equipment: A life support system is essential for providing astronauts with breathable air, removing carbon dioxide and other contaminants, and regulating temperature and humidity. The estimated cost of solar panels ranges from $0.30 to $0.50 per watt, depending on the type and efficiency of the panel. However, we've yet to even find traces of bacteria on another world, much less something this, well, epic in scale. Iron Iron is a common construction material due to its strength, durability, and abundance. A Dyson Swarm around the sun that harvested most of its energy would yield power measured in the trillions upon trillions of watts. Some of the questions I asked chatGPT included: I verified at least some (but not all) of the numbers it gave me from other sources and was finally able to arrive at the following conclusion: Building a 1 meter thick Dyson sphere at 1 AU from the sun would take approximately 10^25 kilograms of material. 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