Stellar engines and Dyson bubbles can be stable
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arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866918361124831232 |
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| author | McInnes, Colin R |
| author_facet | McInnes, Colin R |
| contents | A range of speculative space ventures envisage the use of ultra-large structures for the collection and reflection of light. Given the length-scale of such structures they cannot be considered as point masses for the calculation of gravitational and radiation pressure forces. Using a simplified model it will be demonstrated that ultra-large reflectors in static equilibrium levitating above a central star (so-called stellar engines) are always unstable if the reflector comprises a uniform disc. However, if the reflector has a non-uniform mass distribution, specifically a ring supporting a reflect or, a stellar engine can in principle be passively stable. Moreover, while it can be shown that static swarms of reflectors levitating above a central star (so-called Dyson bubbles) are unstable, in principle they can become passively self-stabilizing if arranged about the star as a dense cloud. While such ventures are clearly speculative, understanding the orbital dynamics of ultra-large structures, and in particular the conditions for passive stability, can provide insights into the properties of potential technosignatures in search for extraterrestrial intelligence studies. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_00203 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Stellar engines and Dyson bubbles can be stable McInnes, Colin R Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Popular Physics A range of speculative space ventures envisage the use of ultra-large structures for the collection and reflection of light. Given the length-scale of such structures they cannot be considered as point masses for the calculation of gravitational and radiation pressure forces. Using a simplified model it will be demonstrated that ultra-large reflectors in static equilibrium levitating above a central star (so-called stellar engines) are always unstable if the reflector comprises a uniform disc. However, if the reflector has a non-uniform mass distribution, specifically a ring supporting a reflect or, a stellar engine can in principle be passively stable. Moreover, while it can be shown that static swarms of reflectors levitating above a central star (so-called Dyson bubbles) are unstable, in principle they can become passively self-stabilizing if arranged about the star as a dense cloud. While such ventures are clearly speculative, understanding the orbital dynamics of ultra-large structures, and in particular the conditions for passive stability, can provide insights into the properties of potential technosignatures in search for extraterrestrial intelligence studies. |
| title | Stellar engines and Dyson bubbles can be stable |
| topic | Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Popular Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00203 |