Zhang Xinghang was still immersed in the anti-load cabin, but at this time the spacecraft formation had slowed down and switched to ion engines as the main power.
Through the retina screen, he saw the star map around the spacecraft formation. Although there are millions of asteroids in the asteroid belt, the density of asteroids in the asteroid belt is actually not as high as imagined. We often see
The picture of the asteroid belt is actually the result of computer modification.
Just like the star map in front of Zhang Xinghang, within the range of 0.1 astronomical units in diameter, the number of asteroids appears sparse, and the asteroids marked in red are the asteroids that cannot be mined according to official regulations, and the rest can be
Extracted.
However, not all asteroids that can be mined are ownerless. Many have been marked yellow, which means that the asteroid has been purchased by a private company. The remaining asteroids that are flashing green are available.
Extracted.
Those who can purchase asteroids are all large companies. After all, if you don’t mine them after purchasing them, an idle tax of 1% of the total value of the ore stars will be incurred every month for three months.
Taxes can make buying companies hemorrhage money.
This is to prevent someone from maliciously applying for a large number of asteroids and hoarding them in this way.
Chang Dashan directed the spacecraft formation to shuttle through the asteroid belt. Although there are millions of numbered asteroids in the asteroid belt, most of the asteroids with a diameter of less than 500 meters are unregistered unregistered asteroids.
These asteroids are Chang Dashan’s targets.
There are many small companies doing this kind of gold mining in the sand. So far, there are 3,764 space mining companies registered within the alliance, of which more than 1,500 companies have mining licenses and mining spacecrafts.
Chang Dashan encountered two waves of mining spacecraft in less than ten minutes. This shows that there are many gold diggers in the asteroid belt.
The spacecraft's scanning equipment is constantly detecting surrounding asteroids, and their targets are iron-nickel asteroids or stony-iron asteroids with a diameter of less than 500 meters.
For those asteroids with a diameter of less than 500 meters, only some iron-nickel type planets or stone-iron type asteroids are of greater value. As for the largest number of icy-earth asteroids, unless there are rare elements or special minerals on them, their economic value is very low.
As for why two waves of mining spacecraft have passed here just now, why Chang Dashan still continues to detect this area? The main reason is that the accuracy of civilian detection systems is not high. For asteroids with a diameter less than 100 meters, they need to be close to about 500 kilometers before they can be discovered.
.
This leads to incomplete prospecting. In addition, the asteroid itself is flying all the time, and the position of the asteroid in the entire asteroid belt is changing all the time. There may be no asteroid here one hour ago, but there will be one an hour later.
[Da Shan, have you discovered any valuable asteroids?] Zhang Xinghang asked.
[Not yet, the three detected ones are all ordinary ice and earth types.] Chang Dashan answered while looking at the detection system.
Zhang Xinghang also understands the current situation of this industry to some extent. Asteroid mining requires luck to a certain extent. Many people may not encounter a valuable asteroid for ten days and a half, while some people encounter it as soon as they enter the asteroid belt.
to a valuable asteroid.
If you encounter a mineable asteroid as soon as you enter the asteroid belt, you will really make a huge profit. Obviously this is impossible, and space mining is risky.
The spacecraft formation can operate in the asteroid belt for more than ten days while cruising at low speed. Of course, the premise is that the living supplies are fully prepared.
The prospecting work on the spacecraft was boring. After Zhang Xinghang read the flight log, he no longer paid attention to this aspect, but browsed Blue Star's network information through the quantum communication system.
[Oceania Daily: The Alliance Council held a Global Ecological Protection Conference in Tokyo and decided to cut off all marine fishing within the Alliance within the next 10 years, implement a complete ban on fishing in the waters within the Alliance, and impose mandatory regulations on Antarctica and nearby waters
, the Arctic Ocean is a nature reserve, and any natural resource exploitation and excessive commercial development are strictly prohibited in the reserve...]
Zhang Xinghang read the news and found that he was actually very supportive of this bill. The meat needs within the alliance can now be solved with artificial meat and imitated natural farming. There is no need for ocean fishing.
The alliance is currently relocating fishermen in batches. For example, some young fishermen have recently been diverted to work as marine patrol officers. In addition, many fishermen over 60 years old have been forced to undergo genetic enhancement and re-education. This is a big problem within the alliance.
Trends, genetic enhancement and re-education of the elderly can re-energize social productivity.
After genetic enhancement, human lifespan has been increased to the limit of 450 years. Now, 100 years old is no more than a boy, 100 to 200 years old is a young man, 200 to 300 years old is a prime man, and 300 to 450 years old is an old man.
In other words, after strengthening, the alliance is generally composed of teenagers and a small number of young people. This terrible increase in the life span of the entire population has brought a new development impetus to the alliance.
In fact, re-education is very popular in the Alliance right now. Enhanced people who have been genetically enhanced have terrible learning abilities, and abilities such as photographic memory are standard.
After Zhang Xinghang's parents were genetically enhanced, they went to participate in re-education and training. It seems that after decades of fighting in the shopping mall, his father was tired and chose to study astronomy and nuclear physics.
After watching the news for a while, Zhang Xinghang also entered a holographic classroom. He was also studying. The alliance not only mastered the knowledge of human civilization, but also the knowledge of Anluo civilization and Soth civilization.
The engineering, mechanics, physics, mathematics, silicon-based life sciences of Soth civilization, etc., and the genes, viruses, environmental modification, quantum communication, biological computers, etc. of Anluo civilization.
This is very lucky for human civilization. When it was not yet powerful, it encountered a civilization seed spacecraft and a declining wandering civilization. They happened to be exploitable by humans and became the nourishment for humans to thrive.
Zhang Xinghang took electives such as nano-atom smelting, quantum communication and the history of Soth civilization, which are unique to humans.
[Mr. Zhang, good news, an iron-nickel asteroid with a diameter of 20 to 30 meters has been discovered.] Chang Dashan reported the news excitedly.
Zhang Xinghang, who had just attended two classes, had to exit the holographic classroom and focused his attention on the spacecraft again.
[Is it an unowned asteroid?] Zhang Xinghang asked quickly.
[I checked, there is no mineral encoder on it, it is an unowned asteroid.] Chang Dashan replied.
[Then prepare to mine!] Zhang Xinghang happily ordered. He did not expect that he would get a good start the first time he went out.
Providing a holographic projection model, he saw that the asteroid looked a bit like a capsule, with a length of about 34 meters, a width and height of between 18 and 20 meters, and a total volume of about 8,400 cubic meters. It was a typical asteroid.
of iron-nickel type asteroids.
A worker bee-class mining spacecraft approached the "capsule asteroid", and lasers cut the planet into 1 cubic meter cubes.
Zhang Xinghang looked at the information fed back by the detection system, and he suddenly smiled. The density of this capsule asteroid is 4.9 tons per cubic meter, and the mass of the entire asteroid is about 42,000 tons.
It not only contains the common iron and nickel elements, but also contains quite high contents of lithium and zinc elements. After comprehensive evaluation, the ore is valued at 440 yuan per ton, and this asteroid is worth about 18 million yuan.
In the asteroid belt, wealth and opportunities stimulate countless mining spacecrafts to search here and there, hoping to become the lucky one who gets rich overnight.