Welcome to the very first tools of an ambitious astroengineering initiative: modifying the evolutionary path of the Sun to avoid the destructive helium flash and prolong its stable, life-supporting phase. This repository contains two simulation programs that support early feasibility analysis of this concept.
These tools are practical companions to a forthcoming scientific article. The goal is not modest: by continuously removing mass from the Sun (in the form of protons), we can potentially reduce its core pressure and temperature, delaying or even preventing the onset of the helium-burning phase. In effect, the Sun would transition to a red-dwarf-like state — dimmer, cooler, but vastly longer-lived.
Our star, left alone, is on track to undergo a helium flash in about 4–5 billion years. That event will end its main sequence phase and devastate the inner solar system. However, the fate of a star is primarily dictated by its mass.
If we can slowly reduce the Sun’s mass by even a few percent — before it exhausts core hydrogen — we could significantly extend its lifetime and avoid catastrophic core conditions. This requires removing gigatonnes of plasma per second over astronomical timescales.
The code in this repository provides basic models for estimating:
- How much hydrogen escapes under artificially applied voltage fields;
- How long the Sun might live under constant mass-loss rates.
This is the first computational step of a stellar-scale intervention.
- Simulates the evolution of the Sun's mass over time, assuming a constant mass loss rate.
- Applies a simplified stellar lifetime scaling law: lifetime ∝ M^-2.5.
- Estimates how the Sun's remaining lifetime changes depending on how much mass is removed.
- Generates a plot showing elapsed time vs. remaining time to core collapse (helium flash).
python sun_lifetime_simulator.py <mass_loss_in_gigatonnes_per_second>- Models the chromospheric proton energy distribution.
- Computes what fraction of protons have enough energy to escape the Sun’s gravitational well.
- Estimates the total mass loss rate under an added electric potential that helps protons escape.
python mass_loss_vs_voltage.py <voltage_in_volts>MIT — because the future belongs to everyone.
The idea of converting the Sun into a long-lived red dwarf may sound ambitious — and it is. But every ambitious engineering project needs a name. In this spirit, we affectionately refer to the broader initiative as Sun Macrosystems — a playful nod to the legendary Sun Microsystems, whose motto was "The network is the computer." In our case, the motto could be:
"The star is the system."
While the original Sun built operating systems for networks, Sun Macrosystems dreams of operating systems for stars.
These simulations mark the beginning of an interstellar-scale engineering path — not its end. If humanity ever reaches the Kardashev II level of energy mastery, this kind of stellar self-modification may become a realistic safeguard against extinction.
Feci quod potui, faciant meliora potentes.
(I have done what I could; let those who can, do better.)
— Motto of the Stellar Engineering Initiative