Depictions of the future often imagine vast technological structures that shatter the
mind with their sheer scale.
In science fiction, these hypothetical objects are called ‘megastructures’ — and although
it would take countless technological leaps to construct one, cosmic-scale Megastructures
may one day become scientific fact.
But what kinds of structures are future humans likely to create?
What would it be like to live on one?
And what’s the science behind these speculative wonders?
One of my favorite sci fi illustrators, Neil Blevins, has been hard at work answering these
very questions: creating a visual encyclopedia of Megastructures that both explains the science
behind the objects, and includes paintings and diagrams to bring them to life.
Blevins is planning to release the full encyclopedia next year, which you can order using the links
below, and also follow and support his work.
And for this special entry into the archive, Neil Blevins has given me permission to show
you a sneak peak of various megastructures: from orbiting space habitats to solar system
spanning stellar engineering projects.
So, let’s embark on a journey through a myriad of possible futures — and experience
the mind-shattering scale of megastructures.
Imagine an artificial ring of unfathomable size, large enough to maintain an artificial
atmosphere and habitable land.
This is a Ringworld, an awe-inspiring theoretical structure, and one you might have seen across
science fiction.
Ringworlds have come in different shapes and sizes throughout various forms of media — but
the Ringworld Blevins imagines is unfathomably vast.
His model is of a ‘stellar scale’ ring: meaning it is large enough to encircle the
sun — potentially millions of miles across.
Building a structure of this size would require an incredible amount of raw material, perhaps
taken from asteroids within and beyond our solar system.
And to simulate earth-like gravity, the entire ringworld would need to spin.
If that sounds surprising, you’ve likely experienced something similar if you’ve
ever been pushed against the edge of a merry go-round while it spun at high speeds.
Our rotating Ringworld would produce the feeling of gravity using, essentially, the same principle
— meaning that walking on the surface of one would feel pretty normal.
A ringworld of this size could even have nights as well as days, through the use of a segmented
inner ring that rotates faster to cast shadows on the ring’s surface.
Ideally, life on a ringworld would be a lot like life on Earth: just a bit roomier, as
a stellar-scale ringworld could have over a million times the area of our own planet.
But rings aren’t the only possible shape for a megastructure.
An even wilder design is that of a Bernal Sphere.
From its industrial exterior, this sphere might not look like a pleasant place to live.
On the hollow interior, however, a spectacular colony could be supported — which Blevins
has rendered in detail.
Dwellings could be built on the inside surface, with gravity simulated via the now-familiar
method of a steady rotation.
Due to the spherical shape, however, gravity at the poles would be quite a bit lower, and
hence could be the location of spaceship docking ports and zero gravity manufacturing.
Recreational activities such as low-gravity swimming could also be held in this area,
which sounds strangely fun.
But there are even more unique possible shapes.
One of my personal favorite megastructures is called a Hoopworld… it kind of looks
like an enormous, habitable donut floating in space.
As cool as this looks, Belvins imagines the Hoopworld would have some potential drawbacks,
as the shape of this megastructure would cause stronger simulated gravity on the inner equator,
and weaker gravity on the outer one.
Life on a Hoopworld would likely depend on its position relative to the sun, as tipping
the structure toward or away from the sun could create seasons, just like our Earth’s
tilt is responsible for the seasons on our own planet.
Personally, I think life on the space-donut sounds worth the hurdles…
Yet megastructures wouldn’t necessarily have to be built in space.
There is a vast portion of Earth which, much like the cosmos, we currently inhabit very
little of: our oceans.
Since over 70% percent of Earth’s surface is covered in water, it makes sense we might
one day build structures that allow us to live under the waves.
Sci fi artists from past decades have often imagined undersea cities that look much like
the ones we have on land, just encased in glass bubbles.
Blevins’s model of an underwater megastructure, however, is far more unique, and more efficient.
While not a ‘city’ as we know them today, this megastructure is a series of interconnected
modules: which could be more easily isolated and repaired should a leak ever occur.
It would also make expansion fairly straightforward, as new modules could be added at any time.
A curious option for habitation…
Megastructures might not be used for just habitation, however.
They could also be built to obtain resources: which is the purpose of the colossal Gas Giant
Refinery.
Gas giants like Jupiter contain huge amounts of hydrogen and helium, raw elements that
might be fundamental to an interplanetary civilization.
Today, we have no way to access these elements, despite knowing of their existence.
Blevins conceptualizes how one day; however, we could suspend a series of structures in
the atmosphere of Jupiter to harvest a safe portion of these gases.
Lowering a megastructure into a planet as unpredictable as Jupiter would be a daring
endeavor, and would likely require multiple steps.
The refineries Blevins has designed work via balloons filled with buoyant gas, which uses
a portion of the extracted hydrogen and helium to raise and lower the refinery.
An orbital vehicle would then transport the extracted material elsewhere.
A true feat of engineering — though given humans’ tendencies to damage our own environment,
it would need to be done carefully.
But raw elements aren’t the only resource future humans might depend on.
It’s also possible we’d still be dependent on farms for food, even as we venture out
into space.
These huge, hexagonal structures are aptly named ‘space farms,’ and Blevins imagines
they’d solve that very problem.
Within these vast structures, the atmosphere could be controlled to produce the highest
crop yield and a set of mirrors could reflect real starlight to create a fake day/night
cycle.
With this model, walking among these crops would likely be a lot like strolling through
a regular farm.
Of course, it might also be more practical to grow plants in more controlled, greenhouse-like
zero-g environments within the structure.
Whatever the case, this is one Megastructure that seems particularly useful.
Yet there are other, darker potential purposes behind building a megastructure: to create
a cosmos-shaking superweapon.
The most famous destructive megastructure in fiction is probably the classic Death Star.
Belvins portrays an even larger, more terrifying superweapon, however: a Dyson Laser.
Essentially a swarm of satellites surrounding a sun, this theoretical device would focus
the energy of a star into a beam capable of destroying the atmosphere of a planet, or
even destroying the planet itself.
This is one megastructure we have to hope is never constructed…
The last Megastructure to cover, however, is one of the most awe-inspiring and truly
unique.
This titanic artificial landscape is called an Alderson Disk — and is essentially a
giant ‘platter’ of land.
And with a radius equivalent to Mars’s orbit, the Alderson Disk is the single largest structure
in this entry.
Life on an Alderson disk would be one of extremes.
The region closest to the sun would be an arid region millions of times larger than
any desert of earth.
Likewise, the region furthest from the sun would likely be a frigid ice sheet far colder
than Earth’s polar regions.
Only in the central habitable zone would temperatures reach moderate levels — but this habitable
zone would be pretty roomy: millions of times the space we have on earth.
However, in order to have earth-like gravity, the disk would have to be several thousand
kilometers thick: which, combined with its radius. would require more material than all
of the planets in our solar system… combined.
It would also have to be made of a hyper advanced construction material to keep it from collapsing.
In other words, as amazing as an Alderson disk looks, it’s not exactly a simple thing
to actually construct…
Ultimately, Megastructures are incredible… but they’re also a very distant aspiration.
If any of these amazing structures are in our future, they’re too far away for us
to depend on as a fallback.
For the time being, the only place in the universe fit for long-term habitation is the
curious little rock we call Earth.
So, as we look to the horizon, we must also remember the importance of what’s right
beneath our feet…
Blevins is releasing a full book on these megastructures and many more very soon.
You can also follow and support Neil Blevins using the links in the description.
And as always, thanks for watching.
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See you in the next video.