DABEL5
Why L5, Not Near the Sun
The standard Dyson swarm scenario assumes dismantling Mercury near the Sun. But what if you use asteroid resources and build at Sun-Earth L5 instead? Here are the calculations.
Dyson-Swarm
Why Dyson Mirrors Die at Mercury's Orbit
At Mercury's orbit (0.39 AU), a 5% reflectivity drop doesn't just reduce output — it triggers a thermal runaway feedback loop that kills the mirror. At L5 (1 AU), the same degradation is a rounding error.
Why the First Step Is Earth-Moon L5, Not Mercury
The first mirror of a Dyson swarm should be placed at Earth-Moon L5, not Mercury. With 1.3-second communication delay, direct lunar resources, and Earth resupply — EML5 is the optimal bootstrap site.