Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lonely Tylenol" data-source="post: 1629447" data-attributes="member: 18549">Also remember that the purpose of a Dyson sphere is not to be inhabitable, but to be an energy collection device.  Either a series of mirrors or a sphere of solar panels, not necessarily connected to each other...they could be overlapping sheets.  In a realistic universe, a dyson sphere would be uninhabitable even if it were thick enough to stay stable under the weight of everything sitting on it.  That is because a dyson sphere would have no magnetic field like the earth does, and so the surface would be cooked by hard solar radiation.  The earth is protected from this radiation by the magnetic field, which deflects much of it (and in doing so creates the northern lights).A ringworld might be able to generate the magnetic field required, but that would require a large amount of current to loop through the ring.  Which would require a magnetic field to generate it, or the ring would have to be broken so that there's a potential difference, and have an energy source that could power that potential.  But I don't see how a ringworld would be able to hold an atmosphere, unless it was designed like a tire, with steep walls.Oh, and IMC the world is flat.  Like a sensible world should be.</blockquote>