With the large number of colony worlds residing around M-class stars
(courtesy Nyrath the Amazing), I wanted to do some thinking about what
life would be like unter a bloated, blood-red sun. We did not evolve
under that spectrum, and my guess is our psychesand bodies are not terribly
well attuned to living in a well lit darkroom.
While there's alot of discussion that could be had about the actual effects, I
immediately want to posit a 'solution' inspired by the Russian space mirror
experiment (Zarya?) going on soon. A series of satellites (or single large
ones) in orbit over population centers on an
M-sun colony world would collect solar energy on huge filimentary
arrays. the energy would converted through any number of processes (from
as low-tech as incandescence to somehing more PSBish) to a 'whiter'
light to fill in the rest of the human-visible spectrum. The modulated
light would then be re-emitted down to the surface, illuminating areas
of a couple-10 km across. The additional light would not be overly
bright, but would add enough human-nornal light to make things easier
for the general population.
They would be called something like Solar Converter Array Satellites or
Radiant Frequency Modulation Satellites :-).
Manufacture of these would be an essential and lucrative business in the
colonization era. I'm thinking of making it one of New Israel's major exports.
> Iceberg writes:
> While there's alot of discussion that could be had about the actual
Also known as 'Target #1', 'Target #2', 'Target #3', etc, for any invading
forces intent on crippling/taking over said colony. :-)
It'll spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> >They would be called something like Solar Converter Array Satellites
Or for NI raiders who are interested in encouraging more converter sales....
(after all, no one wears white in the gzgverse....)
Tom.
/************************************************
> "Izenberg, Noam" wrote:
Oh, I didn't deal you as dirty a card as all that! I'm not that mean!
From WORLD-BUILDING: A WRITER'S GUIDE TO CONSTRUCTING
STAR SYSTEMS AND LIFE-SUPPORTING PLANETS
by Stephen L. Gillett (ISBN 0-89879-707-1)
"(Star) color tends from red towards blue with increasing temperature. Because
of this, we often speak of "red stars" or "blue stars." These names, though,
are largely misnomers in terms of what the eye would actually see. They just
refer to the wavelength bias. Even a "cool" "red" star is extraordinarily
bright and hot by everyday standards. A typical "red" dwarf, for example,
which make up the bulk of the stars in the universe, has a temperature of
about 3000K, about the same as a filament in an ordinary incandescent light.
> Izenberg, Noam wrote:
...Snip...JTL
> M-sun colony world would collect solar energy on huge filimentary
...Snip...JTL
> Manufacture of these would be an essential and lucrative business in
> "Izenberg, Noam" wrote:
(snip Nyrath's explanation that it's really about the same color as a
lightbulb's light).
If you want a brooding red glow, you'll need to live around a brown dwarf. As
is happens, Vishniy Alarish orbits a brown dwarf, which in turn orbits a M
star, so we get both.
Of course, if you *want* it to be a brooding red glow,
> On Mon, 1 Feb 1999, Izenberg, Noam wrote:
> and my guess is our psychesand bodies are not
what? we're miniatures gamers - of course they are! sorry.
> A series of
yeah - fractional-wavelength resonance. well-known fact. in the uk,
streetlamp towers were acting as quarter-wave resonators for the data
signals on the energis comms network that runs in power cables -
rebroadcasting the data at high power slap bang in the middle of the ambulance
radio bands
there ain't nothing P about by SB...
the only problem is that if you halve the wavelength of red light, you get uv
light. ah well.
> They would be called something like Solar Converter Array Satellites
Universal Transceiver-Transformer-Emitter for Radiation - Solar
Convertor
Array Matrix, or UTTER-SCAM for short. yes, i can see people selling
those
...
Tom
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Thomas Barclay" <Thomas.Barclay@sofkin.ca>
To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 16:30:46 -0500
Subject: Re: Life around an M-class star
Reply-To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
It'll spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> >They would be called something like Solar Converter Array Satellites
Or for NI raiders who are interested in encouraging more converter sales....
(after all, no one wears white in the gzgverse....)
Tom.
> They would be called something like Solar Converter Array Satellites
Ind> Also known as 'Target #1', 'Target #2', 'Target #3', etc, for any
invading
Ind> forces intent on crippling/taking over said colony. :-)
Well, I wasn't thinking of them as _essential_ to life on the colony,
but rahter something to make the conditions more human normal. That would
still make them a target in a siege or attrition war, but conquerors would no
doubt love to have the satellites functional as well.
TomB> Or for NI raiders who are interested in encouraging more converter
TomB> sales.... (after all, no one wears white in the gzgverse....)
True, but that would give you a baaaad rep indeed. To my knowledge Ford
doesn't go around blowing up Mustangs to generate more sales (Now Pintos
are another matter) :-)
But then, Nyrath obviates the whole thing with his snippet of stellar
knowledge - though the technology may still be useful in certain places
(e.g. brown dwarfs, tidelocked or resonant orbits that keep hemispheres dark
for long periods of time). Thanks for the quote. I will have to pick the book
up.
> They would be called something like Solar Converter Array Satellites
That would depend *entirely* on the purpose of the invading force. Assuming
they want the satellites functional, they could still disable them (or heck,
just pick them up!:) without undo damage, and still cause problems for the
colony.
> TomB> Or for NI raiders who are interested in encouraging more
You mean you've missed the Mustang Bang that happened a few years ago, Naom?
Oh, I'm shocked; the whole WORLD heard about it! The scandel. The corruption.
Where've you been, hiding out with the NEAR spacecraft??
> ...I was just trying to fit
"square peg in round hole" :-)
(ducks and runs)
Mk