In the empty void of the universe, the Star Catcher spacecraft is heading towards the asteroid belt at a terrifying speed of 150 kilometers per second. At such a terrifying speed, it takes almost as long as the Star Catcher to fly from the earth to the asteroid belt.
In about a month, humans have just begun to understand the vastness of the interstellar universe.
As far as the vast universe is concerned, human beings are still in the primitive stage of standing still.
On the Star Catcher, the crew members dozens of meters away were all busy, and some were exercising in the gym.
Although there is a gravity survival device on the Star Catcher, the lifting force is only half of the earth's gravity. If you are exposed to such an environment for a long time, the calcium in the bones in the body will be lost very easily. Once it returns to the earth, the impact on the body will be
It is very large, so we must continue to strengthen exercise to minimize the loss of bone calcium in the body.
Some people are reading a book. The spaceship is too far away from the earth. Traditional communication technology can no longer maintain real-time contact between the spacecraft and the earth. This also means that the spacecraft cannot connect to the earth's network. Online games and other things must be
I have no choice but to play stand-alone games or read books.
Relatively speaking, everyone on the spacecraft is very relaxed and comfortable now, and there is nothing to do. The spacecraft relies on inertial flight, so there is no need for everyone to be busy with anything.
"Captain, we have passed the orbit of Mars."
In the control room of the spacecraft, Mao Jun looked at the data and star maps on the computer, smiled and said to Shi Kai beside him.
"How many more days will it take to reach the asteroid belt?"
When Shi Kai heard this, he immediately became energetic. He flew past the orbit of Mars and was already very close to the asteroid belt. He estimated that he would be able to reach the asteroid belt in a few days, so everyone would be busy.
"It is expected that we will start entering the asteroid belt in about five days."
Mao Jun replied quickly.
"We're finally reaching the asteroid belt. This guy is almost rusty."
"The job of catching asteroids is really easy. I just have nothing to do and just eat and drink. Only when catching asteroids I need to be busy for a while."
After Shi Kai listened, he lay down on his space chair and said very comfortably.
"Yes, this job is indeed very easy, and I'm a little uncomfortable with it."
Mao Jun nodded, sat down in his seat, looked at the bright starry sky, and said: "The stars are vast and boundless. The scenery has not changed at all along the way. After seeing too much, I feel that it is no longer interesting.
, very boring.”
"You should go find those cosmic astronomy scientists. They have professional astronomical telescopes that can view very distant starry skies. Those photos are extremely shocking to me. I really want to go to the interstellar universe as soon as possible!"
"This day will not take long. With the speed of our technological development, it is estimated that it will be realized soon."
"..."
A few days later.
"Didi~Didi~"
On the Star Catcher, as the sound of beeping continued to sound, everyone on the spacecraft began to get busy, because the Star Catcher was about to enter the asteroid belt, which meant that the most important moment had arrived.
They have worked so hard to run such a long distance and are waiting for this moment.
"Attention everyone, the Star Catcher is about to enter the deceleration stage, please pay attention!"
As the announcement sounded, everyone on the spacecraft quickly returned to their seats, fastened their seat belts, and waited for the spacecraft to begin to slow down.
Acceleration is a long process, and so is deceleration. According to the plan, the Star Catcher needs to go through a deceleration process that takes as long as two or two days.
The speed will be reduced from 150 kilometers per second to about 20 kilometers per second. At this speed, it will search for suitable asteroids in the asteroid belt and bring them back to Earth.
"Is there any new order from the Earth Command Center?"
According to the plan and itinerary, it was indeed almost time to slow down, but Shi Kai still had to ask for instructions from the Earth Command Center.
The spacecraft sailing in the vast void relies on the large number of scientists at the Earth Command Center to use supercomputers to conduct comprehensive calculations and analysis.
On the other hand, we cannot all rely on the Earth Command Center. The judgment of the scientists and engineers on the spacecraft is also very important, because only the people on the spacecraft can clearly know all the extraordinary situations at the first time and can make the most timely decisions.
reaction.
"The Earth side means the same thing, start slowing down~"
Mao Jun, the deputy of the Star Catcher, nodded and said.
"Start slowing down~"
Shi Kai nodded decisively and ordered.
The powerful anti-gravity engines and aviation engines began to start one after another. Under the strong thrust, the spacecraft began to tremble slightly, and its speed began to slowly and continuously decrease.
Because the speed is too fast, deceleration is also a long process. If the deceleration is too fast, it will put huge pressure on the spacecraft and the people on the spacecraft, so both deceleration and acceleration require a long process.
"Turn on x-ray detection, gamma-ray detection, beta-ray detection, infrared radiation detection, and magnetic field detection!"
"Turn on the three-body matrix radar and generate a 3D stereoscopic image!"
"Activate the weapon system and be ready at any time."
"Launching unmanned exploration satellites."
Orders are issued from Shikai one by one. The asteroid belt that is about to arrive is not a warm and empty void. It may be hit by an asteroid at any time, so the detector and radar must be turned on. The front
In order to save energy, it was not turned on.
At the same time, the weapon system is also on standby at any time. When a spacecraft flies in the void of the universe, it usually flies in a straight line. If it needs to change its flight trajectory to avoid the impact of meteorites and asteroids, the energy consumed will be very staggering, especially
The greater the mass of the spacecraft, the greater the energy consumed.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, the method of destroying meteorites and asteroids in front is used, and weapons are used to destroy them. The Star Catcher spacecraft also carries weapons such as rail guns studied by the Academy of Sciences, which are definitely not available to deal with ordinary asteroids.
Any questions.
The principle of the so-called rail running is actually very simple. It is to accelerate something like a hard tungsten rod to a certain extent to hit the target, thereby destroying the target.
Because the speed of the spacecraft itself is very fast, it is now hundreds of kilometers per second. Based on this speed, the launched guide rail will run at a speed that can be imagined. The faster the speed, the greater the energy it carries, which is enough to easily deal with it.
Ordinary asteroids.
As for the unmanned detection satellites released, it is to understand the situation of a large area of void as much as possible. These detection satellites are very cheap, one-time products, and the quantity is relatively large. This is also the purpose of Xingxinghai Technology to grasp more situations in the solar system.
That's why some unmanned detection satellites are continuously released along the way.
A few days later, Starcatcher began to officially enter the asteroid belt.
"Is this the asteroid belt?"
"Why do I feel that there is no difference from the previous time? It is just as empty and lonely, and there are no asteroids in sight."
Shi Kai carefully looked at the picture displayed on the monitor and repeatedly confirmed that the Star Catcher spacecraft had indeed entered the asteroid belt at this time.
But when he looked out into the dark void of the universe, nothing seemed to have changed. He couldn't see scenes like those in science fiction movies. Countless meteorites, asteroids, etc., large and small, were heading towards him.
"Haha, we have indeed entered the asteroid belt, but it is almost difficult to detect an asteroid with the naked eye unless the asteroid is very close to us."
Xia Zhigang, a cosmological astronomy scientist on the side, couldn't help laughing when he heard this.
"Although there are countless asteroids in this asteroid belt, there are currently only more than 1 million known and numbered asteroids. All of these asteroids are very massive asteroids in the asteroid belt, such as Ceres.
The most massive asteroid in the belt, of course, should be called a dwarf planet to be precise."
"In addition to these numbered millions of massive asteroids, there are countless asteroids of different masses in the entire asteroid belt, and the number is difficult to estimate."
"However, all these asteroids are distributed in the vast asteroid belt. The distance range of this asteroid belt is very wide. It is 2.17-3.62 astronomical units from the sun, which means that it is more than a month wide.
The astronomical unit has a distance of 1.5 billion kilometers, and it is also three-dimensionally distributed and has a certain thickness."
"Not to mention its length, it is a circle around the entire solar system. A simple calculation shows how vast the asteroid belt is."
"In such a huge area, even though there are a lot of asteroids, the density is not as high as we imagined. You can only see asteroids with the naked eye unless they are very close."
"What we mainly rely on to detect asteroids is various detection instruments."
Xia Zhigang also smiled and explained to everyone. When Shi Kai, Mao Jun and others heard this, they all suddenly realized that although everyone had gained a lot of knowledge in this area, compared with professional astronomy scientists like Xia Zhigang, there was a big gap.
It was immediately obvious.
"Didi~Didi~"
"Discover asteroid~"
Just as everyone was chatting, the alarm on the spacecraft sounded, and everyone immediately became energetic. Each one of them quickly used the virtual watch they wore to connect to the data center on the spacecraft and started to get busy.
"This asteroid is 4,276 kilometers away from us. According to the analysis of spectral images transmitted by the detection satellite, it is mainly composed of 40% iron, 30% copper, and the rest is basically silicon."
"Its diameter exceeds 1,556 meters, its overall shape is irregular, and its mass exceeds 300 million tons. It is not our cup of tea."
In Xia Zhigang's mind, the virtual machine directly transmitted relevant information to his brain. He used the computer to calculate and analyze the data, and quickly obtained the relevant information about the asteroid.
At the same time, this information was also reported to Shi Kai, Mao Jun and other crew members.
"It's really a pity. Otherwise, this asteroid is really good. It's 40% iron, 30% copper, and it's heavy. It would be very valuable to drag it back to Earth."
When Shi Kai heard this, he immediately said with some pity.