A Dyson tree is a hypothetical genetically-engineered plant, (perhaps resembling a tree) capable of growing in a comet, suggested by the physicist Freeman Dyson. Plants could produce a breathable atmosphere within hollow spaces in the comet (or even within the plants themselves), utilising solar energy for photosynthesis and cometary materials for nutrients, thus providing self-sustaining habitats for humanity in the outer solar system analogous to a greenhouse in space or a shell grown by a mollusc.
A Dyson tree might consist of a few main trunk structures growing out from a comet nucleus, branching into limbs and foliage that intertwine, forming a spherical structure possibly dozens of kilometers across.
Read more about Dyson Tree: Dyson Trees in Science Fiction
Famous quotes containing the words dyson and/or tree:
“It is characteristic of all deep human problems that they are not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.”
—Freeman Dyson (b. 1923)
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 11:30.