If someone inspired with shining eyes came up to you on the street and said that the Sun can be moved from its place and together with it, dear ones, set off to surf the expanses of the Universe, would you be imbued? Hardly. Rather, they would start remembering the addresses of the nearest clinics from which he could have escaped. But the question is, you see, an interesting one. Madmen are so masterful. Indeed, can the star be moved? For example, the one called the Sun.
Fairy tale is a lie
When overly bold ideas appear on the pages of science fiction novels, they thrill the minds, causing protracted polemics and ideological discussions. When physicists come up with overly bold ideas, they cause hysteria.
Take, for example, the unforgettable Jules Verne. Whether a true prophet, or an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the creators of progress, Monsieur Verne made an invaluable contribution not only to literature, but also to engineering. Dozens, if not hundreds of inventions described by him migrated from pages smelling of heady adventurism into real life. There are also plenty of all kinds of lapses in his works, but the critic is silent on this issue. Say, the Victorian era, naive people, steam engines in my head - what to take from them? The field is new, experimental, and only those who do nothing are not mistaken. Yes, and the wisdom of generations is kind of respected in our country. But contemporaries are usually not spared - they criticize for what is worth.
Such a fate awaited the philosopher Olaf Stapledon, who created an unsurpassed description of the evolution of mind in the book "The Creator of the Stars", and the science fiction writer Larry Niven, who wrote the famous "Ring World", the property of science fiction, and theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, the father of quantum electrodynamics, better known to the common people for its extravagant project of advanced energy. Why exactly these names and these merits? All of them are united by the same idea. An idea drawn from the works of the founder of cosmonautics Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. The idea of using our luminary as a pure, inexhaustible source of energy. And it's not about everyday solar panels - take it higher! The essence of the concept is to create a colossal structure that will collect all the radiated energy of a star (or most of it) right in space. There is no night in spaceno cloudy weather - the sun always shines, and it idly gives the space unimaginable terawatts of energy that could be used for the benefit of humanity now and hundreds of generations later. “Happiness is a gift for everyone. And let no one leave offended! " - just not like in the "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatskys, but in the most humanistic sense. Tsiolkovsky anticipated such a construction in the form of a "chain and rings of space settlements" around the Sun. Stapledon in the 1930s rethought the original shape, closing it into a torus - a circular cylinder, a "donut". Dyson, who met the "Star Maker" after graduating from Cambridge University in 1945, radically revised the bold idea, giving it the shape of a sphere.which could be used for the benefit of humanity now and hundreds of generations later. “Happiness is a gift for everyone. And let no one leave offended! " - just not like in the "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatskys, but in the most humanistic sense. Tsiolkovsky anticipated such a construction in the form of a "chain and rings of space settlements" around the Sun. Stapledon in the 1930s rethought the original shape, closing it into a torus - a circular cylinder, a "donut". Dyson, who met the "Star Maker" after graduating from Cambridge University in 1945, radically revised the bold idea, giving it the shape of a sphere.which could be used for the benefit of humanity now and hundreds of generations later. “Happiness is a gift for everyone. And let no one leave offended! " - just not like in the "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatskys, but in the most humanistic sense. Tsiolkovsky anticipated such a construction in the form of a "chain and rings of space settlements" around the Sun. Stapledon in the 1930s rethought the original shape, closing it into a torus - a circular cylinder, a "donut". Dyson, who met the "Star Maker" after graduating from Cambridge University in 1945, radically revised the bold idea, giving it the shape of a sphere. Tsiolkovsky anticipated such a construction in the form of a "chain and rings of space settlements" around the Sun. Stapledon in the 1930s rethought the original shape, closing it into a torus - a circular cylinder, a "donut". Dyson, who met the "Star Maker" after graduating from Cambridge University in 1945, radically revised the bold idea, giving it the shape of a sphere. Tsiolkovsky anticipated such a construction in the form of a "chain and rings of space settlements" around the Sun. Stapledon in the 1930s rethought the original shape, closing it into a torus - a circular cylinder, a "donut". Dyson, who met the "Star Maker" after graduating from Cambridge University in 1945, radically revised the bold idea, giving it the shape of a sphere.
Initially, the Dyson Sphere was a thin hypothetical construction of size comparable to planetary orbits (at least 1 astronomical unit, that is, the distance from the Earth to the Sun), the inner surface of which is capable of storing the energy of a star. The physicist suggested that a technologically advanced civilization could use such a structure to maximize the energy of the central star and to solve the problem of living space. However, calculations showed that such a structure would simply be torn apart by centrifugal force. But here the enthusiasts came to the rescue, who suggested several modifications of the Sphere relatively protected from self-dissolution. Of course, they were no longer a "sphere", but they did not change their historical name. One such enthusiast was Niven, a science fiction writer,in 1970, who embodied in the pages of his novels the idea of a world closed in a rigid ring, performing the functions of the Dyson Sphere. Dyson was criticized mercilessly. Still, they did not abandon the theory. To this day, the Dyson Sphere remains one of the main landmarks of the program for the search for extraterrestrial civilizations - SETI. Scientists believe that it is quite possible to create such an engineering structure of astronomical proportions, but this will require a volume of building material at least as large as Jupiter.that it is quite realistic to create such an engineering structure on an astronomical scale, but this will require a volume of building material at least as large as Jupiter.that it is quite realistic to create such an engineering structure on an astronomical scale, but this will require a volume of building material at least as large as Jupiter.
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Sphere Civilization
Why all this fantasy cruise? To bring the conversation to the ideas of the outstanding Soviet and Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev. As a young and daring radio astronomer, Kardashev proposed a new method for measuring the technological development of a civilization, based on the amount of energy that a civilization can use for its needs. He outlined the essence of the method in the article "Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations" published in 1964 in the "Astronomical Journal" (the most prestigious astronomical publication of the USSR). According to Kardashev, the level of development of a civilization can be divided into three categories: Type I civilizations use all available energy resources of their home planet; type II civilizations - use all the energy of their star; Type III - harness the energy of the galaxy. For lack of practical evidence,the scale was considered one-sided, but its graceful potential did not go unnoticed. American astronomer Carl Sagan, an outstanding figure of his time, proposed to supplement the scale with an indicator of information controlled by civilizations to complete the picture.
It is curious how these ideas resonate with the hypothetical Sphere. Even at the current level of technology development, humanity has barely reached the Type I bar set by the Kardashev, since it implies the development of "all available" energy of the planet. Creating a structure similar to the Sphere will automatically bring earthlings to a qualitatively new level. Harnessing the energy of a star will provide the necessary resources for space travel, and the presence of an astro-engineering base in the form of a Dyson structure for the production of usable energy from light can turn into a spaceship … the solar system itself! The sun is a colossal thermonuclear reactor. If you curb its power, you can purposefully surf the expanses of the universe, literally without leaving your home.
Have you dreamed? Dreamed. And now it's time to think about the mortal. Is it possible to move a star at all? - without the participation of another star or black hole, of course. We want to live happily ever after, not fun, but scary.
The solar wind blew the sails
Surprisingly, you can. Remembering the basics of physics. More specifically, Newton's third law, which has not yet been canceled. For every action there is always an equal and strong opposition. Even if this action does something that we are not accustomed to consider as force. What happens if an astronaut in open space turns on a flashlight (the most ordinary one, like the one you have hidden for a rainy day) and starts shining it in one direction? - soon he will feel that he is very slowly beginning to be carried in the opposite direction. There is no air resistance in space (more precisely, the existing resistance can be neglected), so the impulses imparted to the body will accumulate, and the speed will increase. The negligible strength of the flying photons is enough to propel a massive object. The same effect can be applied to the sun,using his own light as a "magic kick".
Back in 1987, the design of such an engine was proposed by one of the leading Soviet experts in space and aviation, Leonid Shkadov. Shkadov's engine is simple, like everything ingenious. Its design is based on a large enough parabolic mirror. Actually, this is the whole engine. In theory, the pressure of light on a specular solar sail is balanced by the star's gravitational pull. Due to the reflection of the rays, more energy is emitted in one direction, the difference in pressure creates thrust, and the star starts to move. You won't have to move each planet separately: they will inevitably follow the star at the same distance as before - where else can they go from the gravitational leash?
In the first million years of planetary travel, we will be able to advance by 3 billion km. By cosmic standards, this is negligible - only a couple of light hours. But scientists predict the Sun will have at least 5 billion more years of life, so there is no particular hurry for humanity.
Are we going to speed up?
Later, the American astrophysicist from the University of Illinois Matthew Kaplan proposed to improve the stellar engine. Kaplan's project involves placing a helium-hydrogen-fueled installation in the immediate vicinity of the star. Helium will be used to create a jet of radioactive oxygen, which will push the entire system forward, and hydrogen will keep the distance between the engine and the Sun. Since the solar wind alone will not be able to provide a sufficient amount of matter, it will additionally require the use of an astroconstruction with the properties of the Dyson Sphere and the Shkadov mirror, which will have to concentrate sunlight at a certain point in order to increase the temperature and energy output.
If the Shkadov engine allows the system to cover a distance of 100 sv. years (about a thousandth of the distance to the edge of the galactic disk) in 230 million years, the Kaplan system promises to cover the same distance in just 2 million years.
The costs of such projects will be truly astronomical. What is called, "all the money of the Earth." And even more. But they are not invented out of idle curiosity. A structure capable of moving the Sun will be very useful when the Earth is on the path of a supernova explosion (within 1000 light years from us, at least 15 stars are preparing to end their life path with a grandiose explosion) or when in 4 billion years the Milky Way will collide with a galaxy Andromeda. Not to mention the fact that the safety margin of the Earth is not eternal.
For the sake of survival, Earthlings will inevitably have to colonize other worlds, it is not for nothing that astronomers are so concerned about the search for habitable exoplanets. The transformation of the entire Earth, the entire solar system into a controllable spacecraft will save humanity from the torment of solving a lot of ethical issues. For example, who deserves to become a colonist, and who is left to disappear on a dying planet.
Magazine: Secrets of the Universe №2 (147). Author: Kirill Rogachev