Advanced_Double_42 t1_j8tm6c2 wrote on February 16, 2023 at 9:27 PM

Reply to comment by zolikk in Terraforming a magnetosphere possible? by Pornelius_McSucc

99.86% of the solar systems mass is in the sun. Over 70% of that is hydrogen that could be used for fuel.

I can't imagine a Type II civilization ignoring such a massive resource. Even if they simply end up "mining" the sun for hydrogen that they use for fusion reactors elsewhere. If they are not taking full advantage of their star, I don't think they can even be considered a fully-fledged Type II

zolikk t1_j8tmhth wrote on February 16, 2023 at 9:29 PM

Yes, I imagine such a civ would just scoop up hydrogen from the Sun and run something like an artificial CNO cycle in reactors with that fuel. It makes more sense than using a dyson swarm.

What I meant there is that you can out-power the Sun's output easily even without that, by using the fuel on outer gas giants too. So technically you do not need to do anything with the Sun in order to "reach Type II" (it's defined by power generation, regardless of source).

northaviator t1_j978d89 wrote on February 19, 2023 at 8:05 PM

It would be far easier to get your H2 at An Ice giant.

Advanced_Double_42 t1_j9f28ud wrote on February 21, 2023 at 1:34 PM

Of course, but when all the H2 in all of the gas giants has been mined and fused, there will be ~500x more waiting in the sun.