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by varjag 754 days ago
It is possible to send a singular satellite pretty much anywhere. It is not possible to build and maintain a Dyson Swarm. At the sizes of modern satellites you'll need trillions of those, which is completely unrealistic with Earth-side launches. This is before we get to doing them any actual dyson swarmy work: so far our probes are only good at communicating and observing.
1 comments
ImPostingOnHN 754 days ago
A singular satellite which captures any amount of a star's energy is a Dyson swarm satellite.

Would millions or billions of them be better? Yes.

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varjag 754 days ago
Dyson Swarm in particular is a megastructure harvesting much of the star energy to the extent its spectrum is dramatically shifted to infrared. I can't stress enough that a lone satellite is not a swarm, Dyson or otherwise.
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ImPostingOnHN 753 days ago
A dyson swarm is just a bunch of satellites, each harnessing energy from a the same star around which they are more or less are situated (what they do with that energy is up to them). They harvest a proportion of the star's energy anywhere on the range between 0 (non-inclusive) and 100% (inclusive). Your description is one possible end state of a Dyson swarm, and itself includes a subjective measure (what you consider dramatic might not be what I consider dramatic).

Your description of it as a megastructure might explain some of the confusion: it wouldn't be a structure, but rather a formation of satellites not physically connected to each other.

How do you build a swarm of satellites? Well, first you make 1 satellite, then you make another... :)

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varjag 753 days ago
> Your description is one possible end state of a Dyson swarm, and itself includes a subjective measure (what you consider dramatic might not be what I consider dramatic).

My description is Freeman Dyson's description. Naturally you are allowed to come up with ImPostingOnHN's Swarm, which includes a case of zero satellites and no effect on the star emission whatsoever.

> How do you build a swarm of satellites? Well, first you make 1 satellite, then you make another... :)

Sure and the end state of completing Dyson Swarm in Solar system is not achievable with the technology we have. Now let's move on to discuss if one man with a rifle but no vehicle constitutes a Motor Rifles brigade.

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ImPostingOnHN 753 days ago
> Sure and the end state of completing Dyson Swarm in Solar system is not achievable with the technology we have.

Sure, for one possible end state.

The point is that we have the technology to start, because we've already started. Thus, it is achievable given enough time and effort with our current level of technological advancement.

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