In the outer space of Mars, the Star Catcher spacecraft arrived here dragging an asteroid.
As it got closer and closer to Mars, eventually under the influence of an invisible force, Starcatcher and the asteroid began to rotate around the orbit of Mars, turning into a satellite orbiting Mars.
However, soon, the asteroid was towed to the space orbit where the Mars space solar power station is located. In this area, with the operation of spacecrafts and mechanical arms, the asteroid arrived at Mars.
After a short period of time, the asteroids were quickly smelted into pieces of standard steel, which were transported by spacecraft to the space factory in space, ready to be processed into parts for manufacturing spacecrafts.
As for the Star Catcher, it slowly docked in the space port in the outer space of Mars.
This space port is an extremely large space building, like a huge sea urchin. There are long space docks in all directions, where spaceships of various sizes are parked.
"Mars is really getting more and more lively. It looks the same every day, but it's only been a little over a month and it's completely changed again."
The captain of the Star Catcher, Shi Kai, dragged his tired body down from the Star Catcher, preparing to fly to a base on Mars in a private anti-gravity vehicle to rest for a few days.
Now the entire company is very busy, especially the employees who come to Mars, they are even busier.
No, the Star Catcher has just returned to Mars, and the huge hatch has already been opened. The staff at the space port are operating the robotic arm to replenish the Star Catcher with supplies, water, collect domestic garbage, etc.
Soon, it will set off again to the asteroid belt to capture asteroids.
There is no way, even the Xinghai Technology spacecraft is seriously insufficient, especially the spacecraft that captures asteroids. The task is very heavy. Once it returns, it often conducts inspections and replenishes supplies, and then sets off again soon.
.
Replace with a new batch of members and continue to go to the asteroid belt to mine asteroids. Now there are too many steel resources needed on Mars.
"Yes, the changes are really big, but I am thinking about returning to Earth."
Xia Zhigang on the side also nodded and said.
"Back to Earth?"
"Let's wait until next month. We can return to Earth near the Chinese New Year."
Shi Kai smiled and said, "I have been here on Mars for several months. To be honest, I really miss the Earth, my family here on Earth, my wife and children."
"But there is no way. The company's tasks are so heavy now. By next year, the situation will be much better."
"You can still go back to Earth to celebrate the New Year next month. I guess you'll have to celebrate the New Year on Mars."
At this time, Mao Jun came over with a team of people, preparing to drive the Star Catcher spacecraft to the asteroid belt.
"Haha, don't worry. I heard that the boss will come to Mars during the Chinese New Year, and will also allow family members to go to Mars together. By next year, family members can also come to Mars."
When Shi Kai heard this, he immediately smiled and said.
Xinghai Technology is also a very humane company, and the boss is also a good boss who treats his employees very well.
We not only consider employees, but also consider their families. For example, in order to solve the problem of studying for employees’ children, Xinghai Technology itself has built many employee schools.
From kindergarten to elementary school to middle school, Xinghai Technology has its own employee school. It only accepts the children of Xinghai Technology employees. The teachers hired are all excellent teachers. They can even occupy part of Xinghai Technology's resources. There are schools in space and on the moon.
There are corresponding laboratories and the like so that children can go to space and the moon from an early age to experience the charm of the interstellar space age.
Everyone comes to work on Mars, and the boss has also taken this into consideration. When several bases on Mars are built, relatively complete, and safe, he will allow employees' families to visit Mars.
"Great, my son has been clamoring to come to Mars for a long time."
Mao Jun laughed happily when he heard this.
Working at Xinghai Technology is a pleasure, not to mention the high salary and benefits, but also very comfortable in every other aspect. This is why everyone is willing to follow the boss Liu Yuan.
Not only is the money provided, but all other aspects are also properly arranged for you, so that you can concentrate on your work and don't have to worry about the trivial matters of life.
It can solve your housing problem, your children's education problem, and even your spouse's job problem. Where can you find such a company? How can you not work for such a boss?
"Mao Jun, why are you in a hurry now?"
"We have just come down, and you are already in a hurry to go to the asteroid belt?"
Shi Kai looked at Mao Jun, thought for a while and asked.
"It's very urgent. The steel we need now is really too big. I don't know what the people at the institute are doing. I don't know where the asteroids will be used after they are brought back."
"In the past, when an asteroid was brought back, space factories, space ports, etc. could be built. Now, it's better. Asteroids are brought here one after another, and we don't know where they are. They have been urging us.
The mining group is mining asteroids here."
Mao Jun nodded and said.
The asteroid mining business is under the jurisdiction of Xinghai Technology Group, and the research institute and Xinghai Aerospace belong to different subsidiary groups.
"Aren't they constantly building spaceships?"
"The Aerospace Group has taken on a lot of responsibilities. I heard that the number of orders placed around the world is hundreds of spacecrafts. The production tasks are also very tight. We ourselves also need a large number of spacecrafts."
Shi Kai thought for a while and said.
"It doesn't take much steel to build a spaceship. A 100,000-ton spaceship is already as big as the Star Catcher."
"The asteroids we bring back every time contain hundreds of millions of tons of steel. One of them is enough to build hundreds of ships. But now we have mined several asteroids back and forth. The production of these asteroids
Steel is equivalent to half of the world’s steel production last year.”
“But now I don’t know where all the steel has gone. Except for the first few asteroids that were used on a large scale to build space factories, space ports, and Mars bases, I don’t know where all the steel from the following asteroids has gone.
went."
Mao Jun shook his head and said.
It is true that building a spaceship requires a lot of steel, but now that asteroids can be mined, it can easily meet the needs of building a spaceship.
But what is strange is that the several asteroids mined later and the huge steel production with a total steel output of more than 300 million tons are now unknown, and they seem to have disappeared.
"Forget it, forget about that. These are not our concerns. We just need to do things according to the company's orders."
Shi Kai thought about it and was a little confused, but he shook his head and said.
Xinghai Technology is a high-tech enterprise, and the company's confidentiality regulations have always been very strict. For many things, if you don't know something, don't ask, and don't think too much about it.
If you make a mistake at work, the company may not impose any punishment on you, but if you leak company secrets, the punishment will be quite serious.
Xinghai Technology has always rarely fired employees. Those employees who have been fired are basically related to leaking company secrets. Xinghai Technology pays special attention to this aspect.
When Shi Kai and Mao Jun were discussing the whereabouts of a large amount of steel, the space factory in the outer space of Mars was here.
The overall appearance of the huge space factory looks like a long rectangular parallelepiped, with small space docks and a large number of robotic arms.
At this time, a spacecraft dragged a piece of steel that had just been smelted from an asteroid to the space factory, and first parked at the space dock.
Then a mechanical arm slowly sent the dragged steel block into the space factory.
In the space factory, Zhou Yu and Sun Zilong were looking at the busy people in front of them. The mechanical arms were constantly busy, and standard steel blocks were transported here.
Then the powerful magnetic energy device was activated, and as the colorful magnetic energy acted on these steel blocks, the originally thick steel blocks quickly turned into a thin, transparent piece of iron essence.
"This warp engine is really a super gold-eating beast. Hundreds of millions of tons of steel have been used so far, but according to calculations and processes, nearly 200 million tons of steel may be needed to meet the demand for building the warp engine.
"
Sun Zilong wiped the sweat on his forehead.
Thinking of the gold-eating beast-like warp engine, I can't help but feel dizzy.
It really requires too much resources and steel. With the strong strength of Xinghai Technology, it is no longer able to meet its needs.
Building a warp drive requires too much steel.
Tens of thousands of tons of steel can only be turned into an extremely thin sheet under the magnetic energy device, but the amount of iron required to create a powerful warp engine is so large that it requires more than 500 million tons of steel.
Only steel can produce enough iron essence.
500 million tons of steel. Even though the price of steel has plummeted now, it still costs thousands of yuan per ton. 500 million tons of steel is worth 500 billion.
And this is just the steel needed to make a warp engine. This is the first generation of warp engine currently manufactured. It is not too big. If a more powerful warp engine is made in the future, it is not yet known what will be needed.
How much steel is used?
"No wonder the boss said that only the resources of the interstellar space age can meet the needs of manufacturing warp engines. Building a warp spacecraft is too resource-intensive. The manufacturing cost alone is probably in the trillions.