Space elevators and Dyson Spheres
- Thread starter Jon Jaymes
- Start date
Dyson himself theorized that a Dyson Shell would be impractical, since he reasoned that a culture sufficiently advanced to envelop a sun into a massive superstructure would also be advanced enough not to need to.
Agree to both!
There are a few problems with dyson spheres in general. First, the sun has 99,9% of the mass in our solar system, the rest is mainly jupiter and other gas / ice planets. The few rocks of mercury, venus, earth and mars are only a tiny fraction of the overall mass and would not be enough for a spehere and i assume also not for a ring.
Second of, if you consinder getting the material from other solar systems, it would not make much sense since if you have the technology to go there, why build a sphere in the first place? You could just go and settle on a new planet if the old on is not suitable any more.
Third is, the sun will at some point end up expanding to about the region of mars, swallow earth and anything in between. If you would start a huge project like a dyson sphere, you probably want it to last and not destroyed because the sun do its thing.
So, while a dyson sphere is a nice theoretical object, its not plausible that anyone would build one even if they had the technology to do so.
The space elevator on the other hand would be plausible and the main reason we dont have one yet is because we dont have material that can handle the stress (though science! is working on that). I'd like to see that at some places.
It seems to me that by the time a civilization was technically advanced enough to acutally BUILD something that big, the notion would have become laughable.
The idea that a civilization would need to harness the power output of an entire star... seems like they might have come up with a more efficient way to do business?
Like why make a pyramid out of solid rock??
The idea that a civilization would need to harness the power output of an entire star... seems like they might have come up with a more efficient way to do business?
Like why make a pyramid out of solid rock??
Space elevator
I think having a Space elevator in some systems would be a great feature. It may introduce several security issues when coming to near, and have an impact on trading prices since bringing goods to and fro the planets (or moon's) surface will be a lot cheaper...
I think having a Space elevator in some systems would be a great feature. It may introduce several security issues when coming to near, and have an impact on trading prices since bringing goods to and fro the planets (or moon's) surface will be a lot cheaper...
No. It's a current plausible theory to take care of the very expensive carrier rocket systems depending on large masse of fuel to get something in orbit.
If your space farring this Fuel mass efficenty is solved. There was a huge brake trough at that a few centuries ago while space in trading setting is colonized.
There could be regions with ancient tech levels which use this solution to get things in orbit.
it make sense in huge galaxy that there might be a few isolated trading zone where few races have met and colonize nearby space. But also isolated zone where the are as we are in Real live. Just very limited. But they are just one or few steps ahead. And have such space elevator.
Also there could be space nations with out FTL the just stick to there own star. Or use sleeper mother ships to colonize neighbor stars systems.
It was briefly discussed in this interview [edit:] nope - wrong one - has been a while since I've seen or read it, but I think I concluded there were no plans.
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I don't think the Elite style of hyperspace drive would work well with a Dyson sphere... if it detected the mass of the huge object it would probably drop you out WAY out ... if it detected the whole thing.. if it only detected what is between you and the would be star then you'd meet a rather abrupt end.
I do like the idea of artifacts of a vastly superior race being stumbled across. Someone at Frontier should give Larry Niven a free account, and induce him to toss a Ringworld out there waiting to be found.
At the very least, evolved beyond the need for bags....
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indeed. that was one of my favourite episodes (along with ep: nth degree), however I think something new is needed, namely "The Braben sphere", a different take on the concept
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Has anyone found 'Discworld' yet? or giant space turtles with hitch hiking elephants? I've been looking all over and m pretty disappointed I've not seen any yet..
On another slightly saner note I would love to see futuristic speed trains inside some of the largest stations.. and 'iddy biddy' people commuting about..
On another slightly saner note I would love to see futuristic speed trains inside some of the largest stations.. and 'iddy biddy' people commuting about..
I was considering proposing a whole exploration/archeology mission arc that would conclude with the discovery of a dyson sphere (intact or in ruins). This could add the thrill of discovery and exploring the unknown. It would go something like this:
The player is enlisted in a faction mission to investigate a signal of indecipherable origin. As part of the mission, a space wreck of "unknown manufacture and non-human design" is encountered and scanned at the signal site. The results are returned to the faction. This starts a race by the various factions to obtain and secure technology of a previously unknown alien race before the other side can acquire it. A various points, depending on faction standing, you are given missions to track down the origin of this ship, being sent into systems deeper and deeper into uncharted space to examine/scan/retrieve artifacts or wrecks of ships/stations/facilities found by the player in space or on planetary surfaces. During the course of these missions, of course you will need to deal with the random pirate as well as NPC competition looking to capture this technology for another faction and possibly long dormant automated defenses of this lost alien race. For the finale, the homeworld of this alien race is revealed and the dyson sphere discovery when the player travels there.
The player is enlisted in a faction mission to investigate a signal of indecipherable origin. As part of the mission, a space wreck of "unknown manufacture and non-human design" is encountered and scanned at the signal site. The results are returned to the faction. This starts a race by the various factions to obtain and secure technology of a previously unknown alien race before the other side can acquire it. A various points, depending on faction standing, you are given missions to track down the origin of this ship, being sent into systems deeper and deeper into uncharted space to examine/scan/retrieve artifacts or wrecks of ships/stations/facilities found by the player in space or on planetary surfaces. During the course of these missions, of course you will need to deal with the random pirate as well as NPC competition looking to capture this technology for another faction and possibly long dormant automated defenses of this lost alien race. For the finale, the homeworld of this alien race is revealed and the dyson sphere discovery when the player travels there.
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