The concept of the Dyson sphere was the result of a thought experiment by physicist and mathematician Freeman
Dyson, when he theorized that all technological civilizations constantly increased their demand
for energy. He reasoned that if human civilization expanded energy demands long enough, there
would come a time when it demanded the total energy output of the Sun. He proposed a system
of orbiting structures (which he referred to initially as a shell) designed to intercept and collect all
energy produced by the Sun. Dyson's proposal did not detail how such a system would be
constructed, but focused only on issues of energy collection, on the basis that such a structure
could be distinguished by its unusual emission spectrum in comparison to a star.
Intentions
I decided to explore this concept because of the ever-expanding energy demands of the
mankind. Our civilization continues to grow at an unprecedented rate and hence our energy
demands need to match up with that pace. At one point we would run out of resources on Earth
or even if we do not, we would require much more energy that we could produce from Earth.
This will especially be true when we achieve the goal of space travel. So, to find solutions for that
problem a Dyson Sphere can be the solution. Even though the technology right now can’t be yet
achieved I intend to provide a motivation to find a solution for these technological shortcomings
via my visualization.
Visual Strategies
I decided to show a Dyson Sphere in a solar system. A few of the parameters could be adjusted
so that a user can play with it and get a feel as to how much it will cost to build a Dyson Sphere
based on the parameters selected. The economics of deploying it in space are also shown. These
are just the deployment costs and they do not take into account the manufacturing costs. To
explain the science behind the visual I also provided a link. On clicking it a new HTML page
opens which describes the parameters and also lists the references.
Key Insights
Even the most basic Dyson Sphere has enough power to produce more than thrice the energy
that the whole of world produced in the year of 2017. While it is a very enticing prospect in this
regard, the economics behind it are very prohibitive. It required tens of thousands of billions of
dollars just to deploy the Dyson Spheres in sphere. Now this does not take into account the
manufacturing costs which once included would inflate this figure even more. So, at the moment
Dyson spheres are not a solution due to both the technological and economical limitations.
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