Table Of ContentStellar Engineering
Stellar Engineering
GREG MATLOFF AND C BANGS
images
Dr. Gregory L. Matloff
Professor
Physics Department, New York City College of Technology, CUNY
© Gregory L. Matloff and C Bangs 2019
ISBN (ppbk) 978-0-9934002-4-7
ISBN (ebook) 978-0-9934002-9-2
First published 2019 by Curtis Press
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Contents
Dedication
Preface
Foreword by Les Johnson
Acknowledgments
About the Author and Artist
Introduction. Why stellar engineering?
Potential applications
The scales of space and time: Is ET building space constructs?
Origin of the concept
Have we found one?
Further reading
1. Thinking big
The largest organism on Earth
The slime mold amoeba—ambitious actions, small minds
The termite and its mound
Megaliths: Neolithic human megastructures
Egypt’s pyramids: Megastructures of the Bronze Age
China’s Great Wall and the Age of Iron
Cathedrals—giant constructs of the Middle Ages
Conclusions
Further reading
2. If we can do it: Olaf and the star shell
Olaf Stapledon: The man and the author
Stapledon, the tidal hypothesis, and his views on the rarity of cosmic life
A short synopsis of Star Maker
Scientific/technological predictions of Star Maker
Nuclear power
Direct mind-to-mind communication
Galactic and universal minds
Genetic life form modification
Cosmic impacts
Worldships and space habitats
The Big Bang and multiverse
Conclusions: Olaf Stapledon and stellar megastructures
Further reading
3. Freeman gets in the act
A stellar but gentle career
Dyson on global warming and nuclear winter
Genetic engineering and biotechnology
Into the galaxy?
Stellar shells
Major star shell Issue 1: Where does all the stuff come from?
Major star shell Issue 2: Are Dyson/Stapledon spheres stable?
Minor star shell Issue 3: Might the population drift off?
Minor star shell Issue 4: Might atmosphere and oceans drift away?
Minor star shell Issue 5: What about micrometeorites, comets, etc.?
Minor star shell Issue 6: Can cosmic radiation be controlled?
Stellar swarms
Further reading
4. Kardashev speaks: ET and stellar energy
A life for the stars
The Kardashev Scale
Becoming a Type I civilization: Some guidelines
Becoming a Type II civilization: Some possibilities
Creating Kardaschev Type III and IV civilizations
Conclusions
Further reading
5. Ring around a star
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) and stellar engineering
Against the Fall of Night and The City and the Stars
The Fountains of Paradise
The Sentinel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and its sequels
Rama: A visiting world ship
Larry Niven’s Ringworld
A mobile Ringworld
Technical Issue 1: Will the bowl hold together?
Technical Issue 2: Does the star radiate enough energy?
A more feasible version of Ringworld (hold the Scrith!)
Not-so-benign stellar engineering
Further reading
6. Fermi’s Paradox: An ill Omen?
Enrico and his paradox
Frank Drake and his equation
Some possible answers to Fermi
1. They all self-destruct
2. Natural catastrophes
3. Berserkers
4. Everybody listens, nobody transmits
5. Maybe we are the first
6. The cosmic zoo
7. Different modes of future evolution
8. Maybe they are here and do not wish to be found
Further reading
7. Exoplanets: An expanding search
Humanity’s cosmic home: Our solar system
Detecting exoplanets
Radial velocity searches
Application of astrometry
Microlensing: An effect from general relativity
The transit technique
Direct imaging
Progress to date and a few interesting planetary systems
Kepler-62 and its planets
The Trappist-1 planetary system
Proxima Centauri: Our nearest stellar neighbor and its planet
Further reading
8. The most interesting star in the galaxy
The technique
The spacecraft
Citizen scientists
The star
The light curve of KIC 8462852
Competing hypotheses
Might it be a comet swarm?
How about a natural star-sized object eclipsing the star?
Is KIC 8462852 a dying star?
Could it be the result of instrument malfunction?
Is a circumstellar dust cloud a leading contender?
Is an alien megastructure a plausible contender?
Continuing research
Further reading
Update 1: January 4, 2018
Update 2: March 15, 2018
Chapter 9. Other searches, other stars
Infrared and stellar shells
The Infrared Astronomy Satellite
Searches for partial star shells using the Infrared Astronomy Satellite
An infrared–microwave search for megastructures by a Russian astronomer
A search for megastructures by two Japanese researchers (Part 1)
A search for megastructures by two Japanese researchers (Part 2)
An infrared astronomy satellite–based U.S. search that puts an upper limit on
Dyson/Stapledon spheres
Other Kepler stars of interest
Other instruments that could be applied to the search
The Hubble Space Telescope
The Spitzer Space Telescope
The Wide Field Infrared Explorer
The James Webb Space Telescope
Further reading
10. Steps toward star shells
The space tether
Gemini 11: Tethers and artificial gravity
A tether test from a Space Shuttle
Tether missions flown on robotic spacecraft
By Jupiter!
A one-dimensional megastructure
Solar-photon sails: Two-dimensional megastructures?
A heavenly elevator
Further reading
11. The zone of life
Classical habitable zones: Earth analogs are required
Classical habitable zones: Only Sun-like stars need apply
The habitable zone expands: The new solar system
Venus’s atmosphere: A big surprise
Mars: Everybody’s favorite rock
Europa: Another water world in our solar system
Titan: A moon with atmosphere
The geysers of Enceladus
Conclusions
Further reading
12. How stars evolve
Our stable Sun
The life cycle of a star
Stellar size and life expectancy
Stellar surface temperatures
Stellar spectral classes
Putting it all together in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
Stellar evolution on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
Where in this stellar zoo might we search for megastructures?
Further reading
13. Architects, migrants, and artists
Population and energy
Migrating planets
Small-body fly-bys
Planet migration using a solar-photon sail
Moving the Earth by moving the Moon
Migrating stars
To lift a star
Star mining
A longer lived star
Smarter stars
Beacons
Active beacons
Passive beacons
Further reading
14. To cool the Earth
The reality of climate change
The Mont Blanc glacier
Some geoengineering possibilities
Altering Earth’s albedo
Geological carbon sequestration
Industrial solutions: Can we commercialize carbon dioxide?
Local biosphere modification
The L1 orbital sunshade: A small step toward megastructures
Further reading
15. Are they here?
Close stellar approaches: How frequent are they?
Introducing the Kuiper belt
Alien habitats in the Kuiper belt?
Detecting alien habitats in the Kuiper belt
Bolometric apparent magnitude of a Kuiper belt habitat
Detecting lights on Kuiper belt space cities
Searching for infrared emissions from artificial, inhabited Kuiper belt objects
Kuiper belt space probes
New Horizons
A possible future mission
An appreciation of deep time
Conclusions
Further reading
Appendices
Appendix 1: Prefixes
Appendix 2: Scientific notation
Appendix 3: Units and conversions
Appendix 4: Some physical constants
Appendix 5: Some physics quantities and equations
Appendix 6: The electromagnetic spectrum
Index
