Stellar engine
theoretical megastructure
Stellar engines are a class of hypothetical megastructures which use the resources of a star to generate available work (also called exergy). For instance, they can use the energy of the star to produce mechanical, electrical or chemical work, or they can use the impulse of the light emitted by the star to produce thrust, thus controlling the motion of the star system. The variants which produce thrust may accelerate a star and anything orbiting it in a given direction. The creation of such a system would make its builders a Type II civilization on the Kardashev scale.
Proposed applications for stellar engines include moving a star system to avoid astrophysical hazards, such as the supernova of a neighboring star, or to come into close proximity to another system in order to colonize it.
Classes
Four classes of stellar engines have been defined.
Class A (Shkadov thruster)
One of the simplest examples of a stellar engine is the Shkadov thruster (named after Dr. Leonid Shkadov, who first proposed it), or a class-A stellar engine. Such an engine is a stellar propulsion system, consisting of an enormous mirror/light sail—actually a massive type of solar statite large enough to classify as a megastructure—which would balance gravitational attraction towards and radiation pressure away from the star. Since the radiation pressure of the star would now be asymmetrical, i.e.
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