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ICYMI - Would Aliens Actually Build a Power Plant Around a Star?
The search for alien life has an engineering question hiding inside it: would aliens actually build the megastructures astronomers hope to spot? Greg Fish offers a way to test the appeal of a Dyson swarm against the problems of using one.
Surrounding a star with solar collectors sounds like an extraordinary power supply. But what happens when the star erupts, or a spaceship needs that energy somewhere else? A seemingly irresistible idea starts to look different once the power has to leave the panels.
And why does this distant possibility sound familiar in technology pitches here on Earth?…
The skinny
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