Post by Robert DeVries on Feb 22, 2018 2:06:07 GMT -5
The Akkalah Dyson Swarm
Actively constructed between 3789 and 3807 HD (2020 - 2048 CE) , the Akkalah Dyson swarm is an enormous collection of photo-voltaic panels orbiting the star Akkalah between the orbits of Erahu and Kinaroh in a polar orbit. Each panel is thirty kilometers in diameter, and collects 75.82 TW of power per second each, and 158.48 ZW of power per second total. Lasers transmit this power all across Akkalah, from the naval fleetyards of Yomo to the far-flung O'Neil habitats of the Ghastron cloud (Akkalahs Oort cloud), powering a wide assortment of technologies.
Construction
After the Great Interplanetary War and the Technological Singularity, the efforts at deciphering the technologies and sciences created by TSAIA, the Unification Wars, and the construction of the Loftstrom loops were consuming far more power than the power production facilities of Akkalah could produce at the time. A new source of power was needed in order to fill the deficit, and a Dyson swarm was just the thing for fast and easy power. However when the AUS began the project, they realized it was anything but fast or easy. Building so close to Akkalah caused serious problems with waste heat management, most radiators couldn't put out enough thermal radiation to keep the ships from melting into pools of metal, newer methods of creating more effective radiators had to be employed at nearly every turn of the building process until eventually the ships could sustain themselves.
Raw resources were required to construct the panels that would make up the Dyson swarm, initially there was an idea to use Erahu as the primary source of materials, but its freakish proximity to Akkalah ensured that would never happen. Instead the raw materials were shipped in from all across the inner system as fast as they could be collected or mined, and dozens of production facilities orbiting Akkalah were constructed. These facilities would construct the many thousands of panels required to complete the project, and send them into polar orbits around Akkalah. The panels would then transmit the power they collect to energy collection stations further out near the orbit of Yomo, where the power would then be transmitted again to the planets and stations across the system.
The panels themselves required maneuvering thrusters, as while in orbit it was common for the passage of Erahu to perturb the panels. Sometimes panels were struck by asteroids, comets, debris left over from the war, and on really bad days other panels. Eventually these issues would be mostly solved, arming the panels with short range and low level directed energy weapons allowed the panels to cut incoming large debris into harmless specks. It became a fear that if ships were to attempt to venture close to the panels that they might be shot down, being mistaken for debris. An incredibly complex computer program and sensor system ensured that the panels wouldn't shoot at incoming ships or the like by studying their movements, heat signature, material composition, and even radio signals.
The swarm was actively constructed for eighteen years (28 and a half Earth years), until the power deficit had become a power surplus. Most of the production facilities were recycled or pushed into the outer system and reconfigured to construct more space habitats. After then new panels were only constructed when needed, which currently is a growth rate of 30 panels per year. The swarm is currently slated for completion by the year 10,070 HD, after such time there will be no more room for further construction.
Actively constructed between 3789 and 3807 HD (2020 - 2048 CE) , the Akkalah Dyson swarm is an enormous collection of photo-voltaic panels orbiting the star Akkalah between the orbits of Erahu and Kinaroh in a polar orbit. Each panel is thirty kilometers in diameter, and collects 75.82 TW of power per second each, and 158.48 ZW of power per second total. Lasers transmit this power all across Akkalah, from the naval fleetyards of Yomo to the far-flung O'Neil habitats of the Ghastron cloud (Akkalahs Oort cloud), powering a wide assortment of technologies.
Construction
After the Great Interplanetary War and the Technological Singularity, the efforts at deciphering the technologies and sciences created by TSAIA, the Unification Wars, and the construction of the Loftstrom loops were consuming far more power than the power production facilities of Akkalah could produce at the time. A new source of power was needed in order to fill the deficit, and a Dyson swarm was just the thing for fast and easy power. However when the AUS began the project, they realized it was anything but fast or easy. Building so close to Akkalah caused serious problems with waste heat management, most radiators couldn't put out enough thermal radiation to keep the ships from melting into pools of metal, newer methods of creating more effective radiators had to be employed at nearly every turn of the building process until eventually the ships could sustain themselves.
Raw resources were required to construct the panels that would make up the Dyson swarm, initially there was an idea to use Erahu as the primary source of materials, but its freakish proximity to Akkalah ensured that would never happen. Instead the raw materials were shipped in from all across the inner system as fast as they could be collected or mined, and dozens of production facilities orbiting Akkalah were constructed. These facilities would construct the many thousands of panels required to complete the project, and send them into polar orbits around Akkalah. The panels would then transmit the power they collect to energy collection stations further out near the orbit of Yomo, where the power would then be transmitted again to the planets and stations across the system.
The panels themselves required maneuvering thrusters, as while in orbit it was common for the passage of Erahu to perturb the panels. Sometimes panels were struck by asteroids, comets, debris left over from the war, and on really bad days other panels. Eventually these issues would be mostly solved, arming the panels with short range and low level directed energy weapons allowed the panels to cut incoming large debris into harmless specks. It became a fear that if ships were to attempt to venture close to the panels that they might be shot down, being mistaken for debris. An incredibly complex computer program and sensor system ensured that the panels wouldn't shoot at incoming ships or the like by studying their movements, heat signature, material composition, and even radio signals.
The swarm was actively constructed for eighteen years (28 and a half Earth years), until the power deficit had become a power surplus. Most of the production facilities were recycled or pushed into the outer system and reconfigured to construct more space habitats. After then new panels were only constructed when needed, which currently is a growth rate of 30 panels per year. The swarm is currently slated for completion by the year 10,070 HD, after such time there will be no more room for further construction.