As a respected senior scientific researcher, Wang Luoyi has a very high degree of freedom and authority in the Institute of Optics. However, he does not use any manpower or material resources. He just immerses himself in the database every day, constantly
Thinking, constantly reviewing information and literature, or communicating with peers.
He is looking for a new idea, a brand new method of manufacturing ultra-large space telescope lenses.
Optical telescopes manufactured by traditional lens manufacturing methods have proven ineffective in searching for the dwarf planet near Sedna. Therefore, a new path must be found.
However, back on the earth, human civilization in its heyday, with tens of millions of scientific researchers, was not able to do this. Now, with a total population of less than 2 million, relying on this
Is it possible for a scientific research institution with two or three big cats and kittens to accomplish this?
It seems impossible to analyze from common sense. But after careful thinking, Wang Luoyi believes that it is possible to do it.
The main reason is that the environment is different.
People in the Earth Age, because the earth's gravity is too high, do not have the conditions to enter and exit space as quickly and conveniently as now. In the Earth Age, people will think that unless there are special needs, it is a stupid thing to build factories in space. As for new humans,
For civilization, building giant residential bases and giant factories in space is just a routine operation.
This does not mean that the level of technology is high or low, it is just that the environment is different.
Things that people couldn't do in the Earth Age may not be impossible now.
Of course, this road is still very difficult.
Wang Luoyi kept thinking and exploring. And this was not easy for an old man. He had thought about giving up countless times, but every time he remembered that his daughter could not even attend the science experiment class, he thought that he could not even attend the science experiment class.
Leader Zhao Changxing has reduced his own resource rations. Like himself, he can only take a bath once every five days and wash clothes once every three days. He feels that power is born out of thin air in his body.
During this constant thinking and exploration, an idea slowly emerged in his mind.
After submitting the preliminary idea, his idea quickly received support from Zhao Changxing. To this end, Zhao Changxing specially dispatched a cargo spacecraft to carry the tools he needed and sailed a full 10 million kilometers.
The experiment was carried out in a place not affected by the gravity of any star.
In a dark culture cabin, some specially processed raw materials were put in. In it, at extremely low temperatures, almost zero radiation environment, and an extremely close to vacuum environment, some strange reactions occurred.
It happened slowly.
This reaction is usually called crystallization.
The experiment Wang Luoyi conducted this time was to try the possibility of manufacturing very large space telescope lenses through crystallization.
This is a brand new road. This is a road that no one has ever tried before.
This experiment lasted for five days in total. Five days later, when Wang Luoyi got the concave "glass" that was completely transparent and only about 9 centimeters in diameter, he was not only happy but also worried.
He didn't know whether this crystal, which looked like glass but was not actually glass, could have the properties he needed.
He hurried back to the optical laboratory in Science City.
The final test result was that the various indicators of this crystal were seriously lower than the requirements for space telescope lenses.
Transparency, reflectivity, flatness, etc., none of them are qualified.
But Wang Luoyi was not depressed at all. Instead, he completely let go and his heart was filled with joy.
So what if it fails? After all, this is just the first test. In fact, the crystals crystallized for the first time can achieve the current performance, which is far beyond expectations.
This presented a whole new world to Wang Luoyi. After he published the data of this study, the optical research community was detonated almost instantly. For a time, many experts began to devote their attention to this new
Come from the method.
Even Zhao Changxing was alarmed and even issued special instructions, requiring all departments to fully cooperate with Professor Wang Luoyi's experiments and do their best to meet all needs.
Under this situation, the second and third experiments were carried out one after another. In this almost zero-gravity environment, far away from any stars, in secret rooms one after another, crystal "seeds" were slowly growing one after another.
of developing.
This experiment lasted for more than a year. When the signs of resource depletion on the two planets Sedna and Deep Sky were becoming more and more obvious, the first optical telescope main lens with a diameter of 19.6 meters was finally manufactured.
come out.
It is formed in one piece, rather than assembled from many small lenses. Although space telescopes in the Earth era are generally assembled from small lenses.
This is on Sedna, a planet with easy access to space, so there is no need to do that.
According to estimates, its various performances will surpass all optical telescopes made by humans in the past after all the other supporting facilities, such as lens tubes, supports, etc., are in place.
At this moment, even Zhao Changxing sent a special congratulatory message to express his heartfelt appreciation.
Various supporting facilities were quickly built in the space factory, then transported to a place more than 10 million kilometers away from Sedna, and assembled here.
Yes, this space telescope with unprecedented performance will eventually be placed here, not somewhere closer to the star Sedna.
The main reason for this is that although the performance of this lens is high, it is too precise and too fragile.
Its manufacturing process and subsequent operating environment must be carried out at a temperature below 10K throughout the entire process, and the temperature fluctuation during the entire process cannot exceed 0.02 degrees Celsius, otherwise the internal density will change, resulting in a significant reduction in light transmission performance.
The manufacturing environment and operating environment must be extremely pure vacuum, because dense gas molecules can also cause damage to it.
It cannot get close to any large gravitational source, otherwise it will deform itself. Theoretically, even a spacecraft with a mass of more than 1 billion tons cannot get close - of course, humans do not have such a large spacecraft at this stage.
.
At the same time, it cannot even be directly illuminated with a strong light source. Directly shining a strong flashlight on its lens may cause irreparable damage to it.
Its manufacturing and operation processes must not be approached by humans. Because the human body is also a powerful source of infrared radiation, which will damage its structure.
The impact of interstellar dust clouds will also significantly reduce its performance.
The final plan that people decided on was to build it like the Hubble Telescope in the original Earth era. That is, build a large, deep empty barrel, install the lens at the bottom of the empty barrel, and rely on the barrel body to provide it with
Provide the most comprehensive protection possible. If necessary, the empty barrel can be closed directly to completely protect it.
Such high requirements made its final assembly difficult. However, people finally overcame various difficulties and assembled it.
When its first real-life picture was sent back to the Institute of Optics of Science City, everyone was excited.
For the first observation, the target it chose was a distant star. As a result, people could see the corona structure of this star very clearly. In fact, after blocking the star's light, people even directly saw a star.
The existence of planets orbiting it.
This planet is probably slightly smaller than Jupiter, and what is shown in the picture is just some pixels, and its more precise appearance cannot be seen at all. But this is already an extremely amazing discovery.
You know, before this, the human world has never directly taken pictures of planets equivalent to Jupiter or smaller than Jupiter in other star systems! It can't even show a single pixel.
This is undoubtedly a historic breakthrough.
Facing the tide of congratulations from everyone, Wang Luoyi felt a sense of relaxation coming from deep within.
"Finally, it's finally done... there is finally hope for the search for the dwarf planet near Sedna."
Zhao Changxing came over and held his hand tightly.
"On behalf of the entire civilization, thank you for your contribution."
Wang Luoyi looked at Zhao Changxing, who was obviously much younger than himself, but his actual age was several times his own, and squeezed his hand tightly as well.
As a scientist, Wang Luoyi also has his own thoughts on some things.
He knew that in the past dispute over whether to divide humans and sub-humans, Zhao Changxing could almost be said to have single-handedly changed the direction of the entire civilization.
Wang Luoyi believes that for a normal civilization, that is, a civilization with a normal cycle of life and death, when facing the dilemma of resource depletion, making the decision to divide humans and sub-humans is a historical trend and an unstoppable trend.
.
After all, this choice has too many rationalities and too many benefits.
If Zhao Changxing dies early, and human civilization continues to change leaders like a normal civilization, then in this constantly evolving social environment, it is very possible, no, not extremely possible, but a new leader
We will definitely follow this historical trend and complete the division between humans and sub-humans in human civilization.
But Zhao Changxing can live forever. He has connected the old human civilization with the new human civilization. Deeply influenced by the concept of equality of all people in the old human civilization of the earth era, he is like a needle that fixes the sea, fixing human civilization firmly on "human beings".
On the road of "equality for all people", there is no possibility for it to develop in other directions.
And this may be the only fundamental difference between human civilization and other civilizations in the universe.
Only in this way will human civilization be one that we are familiar with, one that we love, and one that we are willing to sacrifice everything for...
"You are a good leader. I hope that our civilization will become stronger and stronger under your leadership."