Starlifting is basically the process of using the Sun as a propulsion device! And from science, we have observed that less hydrogen in a star leads to longer lifetimes!
The largest stars fuse all of their hydrogen supply into heavier elements and go supernova in only a few million years. Our Sun’s projected lifespan is a total of 10 billion years, 5 of which it has already lived.
Each day, our Sun is getting brighter as it transitions into a red giant state. It’s also getting larger. Eventually, it will become a red giant. Once our Sun has exhausted all of its hydrogen supplies and fused elements up to carbon and possibly even iron, it will eventually go nova. This will “kill” our Sun, rapidly transitioning the Sun into a white dwarf within a matter of minutes.
But we don’t want this to happen. That’s where starlifting comes into play. Starlifting is the process of moving our star by using Stellar Engines. There are different types of Stellar Engines, but the engine we are looking for to extend the lifetime of the Sun is the Caplan Thruster.
Caplan Thruster
The Caplan Thruster is like rocket engine scaled up so that it requires millions of tons of fuel per second. It uses strong electromagnetic waves to funnel hydrogen and helium from the Sun. The hydrogen is shot back at the Sun using particle accelerators to balance the Caplan Thruster. Using energy from a Dyson Swarm around the Sun (more on that later), helium is FUSED into oxygen and expelled at incredible velocities.
An artist illustration of a balanced Caplan Thruster. The blue flame is hydrogen, and the yellow flame pushing the Sun is the superheated oxygen. Credit: Kurzgesagt/ YouTubeThe Caplan Thruster uses the Dyson Swarm to focus sunlight to one area of the Sun. This heats up that area to incredible temperatures, and as a result billions of tons of matter is ejected. This matter, focused by the thruster, is ejected out for propulsion.
A Dyson Swarm consists of billions of solar panels around the Sun that allow most to all of the energy released by the Sun to be captured. It looks roughly like this.
A Dyson Swarm (in purple) with a Caplan Thruster. Not to scale. Credit: Kurzgesagt/ YouTubeA civilization that could build a Dyson Swarm can also build a Caplan Thruster. As the thruster uses fuel from the Sun, it is extending its lifetime and at the same time possibly delaying entering a red giant stage.
It will take possibly millions of years to significantly increase the Sun’s lifetime. But it’s still possible given we start early. We still have 5 billion years.
If you want to know more about Stellar Engines, check out this awesomely made Kurzgesagt video on YouTube. It’s where I got the images for discussing this topic. They go into more depth on how to move the Sun and how to extend its lifetime.