Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur cover image

The Megastructure Compendium

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

00:00

Solar Mirrors, Solar Shades

In larry niven's 19 87 novel, the smoke, we encounter a naturally occurring gas cloud surrounding a star in its habitable goldilock zone. A single micron thick sheet of metal polish to reflect like aluminum foil might double the light coming ou a mago structure habitat at a millionth of the mass of that habitat. Solar mels are also instrumental in stalasor and power beaming technologies for powering wards or driving spaceships.

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