[xrp]

We should build a Dyson Sphere.

Where do you plan to get the materials for the Dyson Sphere? :-)

There isn't enough matter in the solar system, outside of mining the sun, to construct one.

[dangus]

You presume a Type II Dyson sphere. Dyson said what he foreaw was a loose collection of over 100,000 objects traveling on independent orbits. Dyson also predicted a Type III sphere called a ringworld, which would require only the amount of matter of a large asteroid, and yet would capture a significant portion of a star's energy.

[dangus]

You presume a Type II Dyson sphere. Dyson said what he foreaw was a loose collection of over 100,000 objects traveling on independent orbits. Dyson also predicted a Type III sphere called a ringworld, which would require only the amount of matter of a large asteroid, and yet would capture a significant portion of a star's energy.

Actually, come to think of it, even a handful of solar collectors would technically fit the definition of a Type I Dyson sphere, and that has already been proposed.

[NJ_gent]

"There isn't enough matter in the solar system, outside of mining the sun, to construct one."

Sure there is. Using the materials from the inner planets alone, we could construct a very thing Dyson sphere. Using the materials (minus the hydrogen and helium) from the outlying planets, we could construct a reasonably thick, complete Dyson shell. Wiki had some fairly reasonable calculations about it. Unfortunately, there's that little problem of gravity, the other one about heat, radiation, atmosphere, etc. All of these are impossible problems to conquer along the way.

[Conservomax]

Wasn't the original idea to deconstruct the planet Jupiter? There are several types of Dyson spheres, i believe the one you are thinking of is a Dyson Shell. Which is fundementally impossible to build.