For anyone with an interest in science fiction, the Dyson Sphere can almost act as the Holy Grail. More than half a century ago, the famous physicist Freeman Dyson first proposed and then popularized the idea that a highly developed super-technological civilization would be able to produce as much useful energy as a whole star can produce - all that is needed is to build a special structure around the star.
Dyson proposed the original concept of this design in the context of his desire to find extraterrestrial life. He suggested that humanity should look for new star systems and try to discern signs of the presence of such cosmic megastructures in them.
“Such an initially dark object will emit as much energy as the star itself hiding behind it. But this radiation will be in the far infrared spectrum with a wavelength of about 10 microns. I propose to conduct a targeted search for sources of such infrared radiation, either separately or together with the search for artificial sources of radio signals. It would be more preferable to be engaged in the search and study of objects of the 5th or 6th magnitude … , - once wrote Dyson.
The physicist was also inspired by the remark that the inhabitants of the Earth, once reaching outstanding technological heights, will also be able to build their own Dyson megastructure.
“It's possible. Within several thousand years since the beginning of the industrial era, any intelligent civilization can reach the level of development and life inside an artificial biosphere, located around the native star of a particular system."
Of course, such a super-large-scale construction is not yet feasible, but it is never too early to start planning! And Dr. Stuart Armstrong, a researcher at the Institute for the Future of Humanity at Oxford University, just decided to do this, imagining how mankind could one day build the so-called Dyson swarm (not to be confused with the "sphere") around the Sun.
Unlike the Dyson sphere, the structure, although hollow, has elements with one piece skin, the Dyson swarm can be a modular structure consisting of many residential modules, satellites and solar collectors, united in a common network in the form of a sphere around a star. The generated energy will be wirelessly transmitted between the modules of this swarm and the Earth itself. Alternatively, millions of mirrors can be used to focus the energy of the Sun on fewer collection stations.
So how can this great idea be realized? In a lecture in 2012, Armstrong proposed a highly abstract version. Firstly, the entire construction process will be carried out autonomously, that is, by robots that have the function of self-replacement. One robot broke down, several others took and produced a new one from old parts. An army of such mechanical workers will also need to be sent to Mercury, where they will extract minerals, on the basis of which the materials necessary for construction will be created. According to the scientist's calculations, only half of this planet will be useful in terms of mining. Over the next 50 years or so, robots will multiply and build various modules and satellites, after which the resources of Mercury will most likely be depleted.
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Of course, in this case, we will most likely lose one planet in the solar system, but will we miss this scorched hell so much? Without a gram of regret, Armstrong even titled one of the slides presented at the lecture as: "Sorry, Mercury, nothing personal …".
If you are very skeptical about the above plan, fine. This is as it should be, because we have not even come close to this level of technological capabilities. Nevertheless, no one forbade dreaming.
Still, Armstrong presented the argument that building a Dyson Swarm is a completely achievable task. He points out that even if there are many things in nature that, in principle, should not exist, then we also have no reason to believe that humanity can never reach such a technological level. He cited artificial intelligence and cell replication technology as the two main necessary technologies that will allow to get closer to the possibility of creating a Dyson swarm. With these two fundamental tools in place, all we need is the right automation technology and advanced 3D printing technology - two areas in which humankind is already showing some success.
“The scale of construction in itself is not a factor that acts as an insurmountable barrier. Disassembling a planet by stone is the same as disassembling an asteroid. It will just take longer, much longer,”commented Armstrong.
Nikolay Khizhnyak
