The possibility of building a stellar engine to move the Sun and the solar system is discussed, with different designs proposed such as the Shkadov thruster and the Caplan thruster. The technology required for such a project is currently centuries or even thousands of years away, but considering these possibilities can help us understand what is possible and potentially detect other civilizations that have reached this level of technology. Viewers are asked for help to overcome an issue with the YouTube algorithm affecting Space Time's viewership.
1. Interstellar travel is dangerous due to cramped quarters and exposure to deadly cold and cosmic rays.
2. Moving the Sun would require a prodigious technological feat, and is in the realm of a type II civilization.
3. Moving the Sun would be accomplished through the principle of conservation of momentum, and may involve building a solar system-scale structure.
4. Fritz Zwicky proposed a giant particle accelerator in space to push the Sun using kinetic energy, but never calculated how much fuel it would take or how fast it would go.
5. Leonid Shkadov came up with a concept that doesn't require external energy or propellant, using a giant parabolic mirror to reflect light and transfer momentum to the mirror, which would counter the inward pull of the Sun's gravitational field.
6. The Caplan thruster is a more advanced scheme that could potentially grant a thousand times the acceleration of the Shkadov thruster through the use of a Dyson sphere or swarm, large electromagnetic collection cones, and fusion reactors.
7. It may be possible to increase the lifespan of stars through the process of star-lifting, but using hydrogen as propellant rather than throwing it back into the Sun could eventually drain the star of its mass.
8. Observational searches have been done to detect artificially accelerated stars, but have come up empty.
9. It is currently unknown if stellar engines can ever be built, but the fact that it's a possibility is exciting.
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