Many of you have probably heard of a Dyson Sphere.
About a year ago, I had an inspiration to build a similar mega-structure around the Earth as a measure to gain consistent and rapid space-launch capacity. I call the concept a “Dyson Ring.”
The idea is to build an artificial ring around the Earth, starting at an altitude of 65,000 feet above equatorial sea level. (65 Kft is around the altitude ceiling of a hot air balloon equipped with a pressurized cabin.)
The initial ring could be lofted by a large fleet of hot air balloons, and pulled into a locked position using steel cables.
I had the idea to make the initial structure out of Roman Concrete. (Roman concrete was recently re-discovered by modern scientists. It has lasted in ocean breaker walls at old Roman port cities with barely any damage for over 2,000 years, whereas modern Portland cement deteriorates in 50 years when exposed to the elements. The stuff is nearly indestructible.)
The “Rcrete” modules would be shaped to interlock at the ends. All modules would be laid out end-to-end and strung together with steel cables. They would be lofted pretty much all at once with a massive fleet of balloons, and then winched into position using the steel cabling and robotic guides.
Once the initial ring structure was up, it would circle the Earth and gravity would hold it in place. (Since gravity would be pulling on it pretty much equally from every direction.)
At that point, the balloon fleet would continuously stream new Rcrete modules up to the ring, and you could continuously build on top of it (from all sides as equally as possible) until it was fairly wide and reached above the atmosphere.
As the structure was built, wind and solar generators, plumbing, transport tubes, and all sorts of goodies could be built into the ring. Once it was above the atmosphere, solar-powered mass drivers could be built on top of the ring structure to achieve high-speed launches in all directions.
A steady stream of balloons could transport cargo to and from the lower extremity of the ring.
The device could be many things: A planetary power source, a planetary transportation system, an aerial farm, a global communications and network distribution system, a large-scale and high-altitude telescope platform, and most-importantly a space-access system going BOTH directions.
None of the technology required to erect this device exceeds our current technological abilities, the only truly daunting facet is its sheer scale.
Dan
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| Dyson Ring around Earth |
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