Of Spacetime dyson-swarm

Dyson Swarm

> Mid-ramp. ∝0.2–0.4% solar interception. Mass-limited, not energy-limited.

Build state

Metric	Value
Solar interception	0.2–0.4%
Total absorbed power	∝10²³–10²⁴ W
Annual coverage growth	0.03–0.05% of solar disk
Time to ∝10% saturation	200–300 yr
Total swarm mass	∝10²¹ kg

Construction is mass-limited. Mercury teardown rate sets swarm ramp rate.

Architecture — three tiers

Mirror field (outer). Lightweight reflective film, ∝mg/m² areal mass. Passive, radiation-pressure attitude-stabilized. Replaceable cheap. ∝70% of total swarm mass.

Spectral sorting tier (middle, emerging). Cascaded dichroic mirrors, Bragg gratings, prismatic dispersers fractionate broadband flux into separately-saleable bands. Coverage ∝40–60% of delivered flux now; growing.
→ beam-fractionation.md

Conversion nodes (inner). Receive concentrated flux at 40–60% thermophotovoltaicthermionic efficiency. Each node thermally stressed, expensive, heavily maintained. Orders of magnitude fewer than mirrors.

Mass budget

Component	% of swarm mass	Polymer matrix % of component
Mirror film	∝70%	60–80%
Conversion nodes	∝12%	8–15%
Radiator arrays	∝8%	25–35%
Beaming infrastructure	∝5%	15–25%
Station-keeping + tenders	∝3%	20–30%
Comms + control	∝2%	10–20%

∝22% net polymer matrix across the integrated swarm. This is the demand profile that anchors the Venusian slime industry. → polymer-matrix-demand.md

Mercury–Venus coupling

Mercury  ──silicate+metal aggregate──► Swarm fabrication
   ▲                                          │
   │                                          ▼
   └──beam──── Conversion nodes ◄── Venus polymer matrix

Each leg depends on the other two. Breaking any one stops the system within months. This loop is the central economic fact of the era.

Beam allocation (sector share)

Mercury extraction              ∝30–35%
Swarm self-construction         ∝20–25%
Venusian hyperscale slime       ∝10–15%
Cylinder habitat fab            ∝8–12%
Yatraem corridor maintenance    ∝5–8%
Compute + authentication        ∝3–6%
Other                           ∝5–10%

→ solar-monetary-authority.md, beam-fractionation.md

Waste heat

Conversion nodes dissipate ∝50% of intercepted flux as near-IR (5–8 μm). Radiator arrays sized to this load are the most visually prominent feature of any node installation. Inner-system IR background measurably grows with swarm coverage.

Secondary collection at the waste-heat tier is technically viable, not yet deployed at scale. Trade-off inverts when primary collection approaches saturation.

Orbital distribution

Band	Range	Status
Inner	0.2–0.5 AU	High-flux conversion nodes concentrated here
Middle	0.5–1.5 AU	Bulk of mirror field deployment
Outer	1.5–3.0 AU	Sparse; corridor-feedstock-limited

Distribution is non-uniform. Inhabited orbital shells (Earth, Mars, Venus cloud band) get mirror geometry built around rather than across them — preserving insolation budgets established before the swarm existed.

Plateau

Construction not planned to full enclosure. Marginal return diminishes well before. Eventual operational plateau projected at 8–15% interception, centuries away. Current era's job is the build itself.

→ mercury-extraction-pathway.md, polymer-matrix-demand.md, solar-monetary-authority.md, timeline-and-eras.md