I'm not sure I've read the entirety of this thread, especially as it seems to be spread across several mailing lists (I'm GURPSnet exclusive). Still, I thought I'd throw something in here.
It's true that a Dyson sphere will absorb energy from the star it encloses, and that eventually that energy will need to go somewhere. I recall reading a book a while back, although I don't remember anything else about it, I do remember that in the first couple chapters, a probe was sent into a star. Instead of trying to insulate it however, which would have been nigh-impossible, the idea was to use a heatsink to redirect the energy. Their heatsink turned out to be a laser. Don't focus on the ludicrous idea of cooling a probe inside a star with a laser though, but apply it to a Dyson sphere. It's not *perfectly* stealthed, but you can focus the beam into a pretty damn insignificant area of space, at least in a cosmic sense. Aim it down off the galactic plane, and the rest of your sphere is pretty much invisible (as far as black-body radiation goes, anyways. making it non-reflective is another deal). As an added bonus, anyone who gets in the way of the beam won't be telling anyone else about it! And you might also trap all that heat in superconducting elements. I dunno, could some percentage of the mass of a Dyson sphere have the energy density necessary to hold the combined lifetime output of your star? "Nemo Malus Felix" - No Peace For The Wicked And shepherds we shall be For thee, my Lord, for thee Power hath descended forth from Thy hand So feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands So we will flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti Angelix knows. You don't. Angelix r0x0rz j0r b0x0rz =) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
