[ExI] Alien Civilizations May Only Be Detectable For A Cosmic Blink Of An Eye

[Keith Henson]

On Tue, Oct 21, 2025 at 3:16 AM <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> ...
> >>... There is work to be done yet on thermal modeling.
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> >...I have worked on radiators for use in space since 1979...
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> Keith a Dyson swarm is far different from every space radiator problem you and I have ever seen.

> >> ... I keep coming up with designs that let most of the star's energy go right on past, with no clumps of nodes for the most advanced Dyson swarms.

If you care about communication, you don't want the computing far apart.

> >...That's pointless if you need the energy to do something...
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> Of course, but all that energy must be managed.
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> >>... This leads me back to the notion that Dyson swarms could be very common but we can't see them in most cases.  Perhaps an early swarm hasn't worked out its optimal configuration and is still clumpy.
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> >...Why should a Dyson object ever be anything but a flat surface facing the star and a backside radiator? Nothing else makes engineering sense.
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> Keith
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> Kieth consider thought experiment of 10 trillion nodes,

What is a node?

> orbiting in a ring at 1 AU at a spacing of about 10 cm.  Each node is about 10 cm from another pair of nodes, 20 cm from a pair, etc.  The existence of a second similar ring with slightly larger radius, axis of orbit tilted a few nanoradians is beneficial to the first ring, for it allows passing data from one ring to the other at two points: right where the two rings come closest.

16 minutes delay to talk to the far side of the ring.

> From the point of view of a thermal engineer, the two rings are still a flat surface (in a way) because both rings can radiate into space, no problem.

Thermal is not the only consideration.

> The notion that the two rings are mutually beneficial to each other applies to the third ring and the fourth and so on.  If more and more rings are added, say a few trillion rings, eventually the innermost ring starts to get radiation back from other rings farther out, and gets warmer than it would be otherwise.
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> Modeling that is more difficult than it sounds because our thermal models don't ever deal with that situation.

It is not that hard. But I think you run out of material.

Keith
> spike
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