In this lesson, we'll give a friendly introduction to what nuclear fusion is and how it might be used by space faring civilizations.

A Shkadov thruster is a type of megastructure which involves constructing a gargantuan orbital mirror next to a star. In this lesson, we'll start off by discussing how such a stellar engine works. The orbital mirror is placed in a position next to a star where it acts as a statite: that is, the star's gravity acting on the mirror is canceled out by the star's radiation pressure acting on the mirror. This allows the mirror to stay in a position that is stationary relative to the star's surface. The mirror bounces some of the star's light back at itself; when that reflected light collides with the star, it exerts a thrust on the star which causes it to accelerate and move. This will bring us to the second main focus of this lesson: namely, what are the possible uses of a Shkadov thruster? As we'll discuss, since a Shkadov thruster can move the star and since all of the planets, moons, comets, and asteroids in the star system is gravitationally bound to the star, not only does the star move but the entire solar system moves away also. In the distance future, our Sun will eventually die. But we might be able to use a Shkadov thruster to move the Earth to another solar system, but this would take many millions of years.

In this video, we’ll discuss Shkadov thrusters: a method of moving stars, star systems, and even entire galaxies.

A spaceship using an Alcubierre warp drive would involve assembling a ring of negative energy around the spaceship which would distort spacetime in this particular way: the spaceship sits in a "bubble" of flat, Minkowski spacetime which is "pushed" by expanding space behind it and "pulled" by contracting space infront of it. The spaceship does not move through space, but rather space itself moves and carries along the spaceship for the ride. Since general relativity places no limit on how fast space can move, the space can "carry" the warp bubble and spaceship away at faster than light (FTL) speeds.