Compared to an asteroid with a diameter of twenty meters, a thruster of only five meters is like an ordinary person standing next to an African bull elephant.
If you try to use your own power to stop this seven-ton behemoth traveling at a speed of thirteen kilometers per second... it is obviously impossible.
What's more, the mass of this rocky asteroid is not just seven tons, but thousands of tons.
But the capture action is not to stop it, but to only slightly change its direction and let it enter the near-lunar orbit.
When the time comes, the moon's strong gravitational pull will naturally educate it.
…
On the Yao Yue, the other crew members of the spacecraft had already gone back to their cabins to rest, including Ye Ming and Peng Xiaofei, who had already gone offline and were probably resting too.
Of the entire capture team, only Li Lei and his students were still holding on, constantly staring at Aita's various correction data for the attitude engine.
At this time, Captain Tang Bo walked down the gangway and saw that Li Lei was still holding on. He couldn't help but shake his head: "Old Li, you can't go on like this. It will take three hours to merge. Why don't you take a moment?"
"I can't help it, Captain Tang. Mr. Ye and the others are all offline. At least we have to keep one person alive. Otherwise, it will be spread out in the future and it will be said that we didn't do any work and it was all done by Aita. That would be so embarrassing!"
"
Captain Tang laughed loudly: "Okay, okay, then I'll go to sleep first."
"You go ahead. Tomorrow it will be up to you to fly the spaceship to capture it."
"Hey, it's all Aita's job, we just have a name."
As Captain Tang left, Li Lei looked at the home screen again.
He really wanted to witness the asteroid's merger.
As time passed, three hours passed quietly.
Li Lei raised his hand and looked at the time, then looked at the home screen - at this time the asteroid had entered the moon's gravitational range.
Ye Ming should be awake too, right?
Sure enough, the next second, Ye Ming's voice came from the command module: "Old Li, have you entered orbit?"
"Not even close, right now."
"Okay, okay, I'm lying on the bed, so I won't answer the video."
"Haha, it's four o'clock in the morning now. If you want to get up and sit up straight, I'll be so impressed."
Ye Ming laughed and laughed: "If you say that, be careful if I really get up to have a video conference - by the way, Xiaofei didn't come?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Peng Xiaofei's voice rang out: "Coming, coming."
The three of them laughed at the same time.
Catching a 20-meter asteroid is really nothing compared to the grand plans currently underway in space.
But this first experience is extremely valuable, and it is also the basis for the future "asteroid belt" plan.
According to the news, the other side has given up on its Mars plan for next year, but China has not given up. However, China has given up on manned landing on Mars, and instead uses small spacecraft under construction to transport a batch of probes to Mars.
At that time, it will perform three tasks.
The first task is to release multiple Mars rovers equipped with instant communication modules to conduct instant control and real-time scientific research on the surface of Mars.
The second mission is to release multiple detection satellites to detect Jupiter, Io, and Europa.
The third mission is to release several small asteroid detectors to conduct a deep survey of the asteroid belt.
Of these three missions, the first two are essentially to deepen mankind's understanding of the universe and alien bodies. But the last mission, in addition to enhancing the understanding of asteroids, also has practical significance - because these asteroids are not only rich in
Contains various mineral resources, and many of them contain water ice.
In fact, multiple models of the evolution of the Earth indicate that the water on Earth came from when asteroids rich in water ice collided with the Earth. The high temperature of the impact caused it to turn into water vapor and eventually remain.
In space development, water resources have always come first, more than any other resources.
Why is the Guanghan base built on the South Pole of the moon and has to endure half
Years of darkness, half a year of light torment?
Essentially, this is because the south pole of the moon is the place where the most water ice has been found so far - the other place is the north pole of the moon.
The Yaoyue rover has been surveying the moon's geological resources since it went into space, and concluded that although the moon's water ice resources are there, they are not as rich as imagined - it is obvious to support a scientific research base.
There is no problem, but if you want to support the operation of a comprehensive lunar factory including smelting... it is really impossible.
So obtaining water ice resources from asteroids and even comets is the only way forward in the future.
At this time, Aita's voice sounded.
"The target has been captured by the moon and is entering lunar orbit."
"Correction."
"Correction completed."
"Orbit prediction in progress..."
"The target trajectory is in line with the plan."
"Target orbit completed."
Following Aita's voice, "sparse" applause suddenly erupted in the hall.
…
One day later, the live broadcast channel of Yaoyuehao suddenly started a live broadcast of "Capturing the Stars".
——Yes, because the asteroid capture plan was not a regularly scheduled plan before, and it is not as eye-catching as the ambitious goals currently being carried out in space and on the moon. It even has a high probability.
fail.
Therefore, no one announced it at first.
Although it is normal for space missions to fail, after all... Domestic people now have overwhelming confidence in the aerospace industry. There is no need to make ordinary people feel unhappy, right?
Moreover, it has to be broadcast live. Not only is the first visual difficult to show, but it also lasts up to twenty-four hours...
But it's different after passing the first two stages.
As the Yaoyuehao left the L1 Lagrange point, the live broadcast also started at the same time.
First, one of Li Lei's female students guest-starred as a beauty anchor, taking everyone to watch the beautiful space scenery that can only be enjoyed on the Yao Yue, and then introduced the general plan and progress of the mission.
Subsequently, the Yaoyue probe entered the lunar orbit.
Under the high-definition camera of Yaoyue, everyone can clearly see the asteroid ahead.
Immediately afterwards, the Yaoyue probe adjusted its speed. After two hours of stabilizing its orbit in parallel with the asteroid, the Yaoyue probe launched a huge "net".
After tying up the asteroid, Yaoyue began to slowly descend towards the moon with it.
Thanks to the low gravitational pull of the moon, under the back-propulsion of the Yaoyue engine with full firepower, the asteroid landed steadily two kilometers away from the Guanghan base after a three-hour landing.
Place.
…
At the Xichang Space Center, Ye Ming took off his glasses and took a long breath.
He closed his eyes and rested for a few seconds before calling out the system.
The task of capturing the stars is shown to have been completed, and new tasks have also been spawned.
[Current mission: Relics of civilization - You have mastered the power to obtain space resources. Please find those relics of civilization scattered in the starry sky and use them. 】