Galactic Tech Empire

Chapter 506 The Gold Digger

Zhang Xinghang was still immersed in the anti-g load cabin, but at this time the spaceship formation had slowed down, and ion engines were used as the main power.

Through the retina screen, he saw the star map around the spaceship formation. Although there are millions of asteroids in the asteroid belt, the asteroid density in the asteroid belt is actually not as great as imagined. We often see The picture of the asteroid belt is actually the effect after 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 is sparse, and the asteroids marked in red are the asteroids that cannot be mined according to the official regulations, and the rest can be mined. excavated.

However, not all mineable asteroids are unclaimed. Many of them have been marked yellow, which means that the asteroid has been purchased by a private company. excavated.

Those who can buy asteroids are all big companies. After all, after the purchase, if they do not mine, an idle tax of 1% of the total value of the mine will be generated every month after three months. Taxes can make buying companies bleed.

This is to avoid someone maliciously applying for a large number of asteroids and hoarding them in this way.

Chang Dashan commanded the spaceship 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 black households that have not been registered. These asteroids are Chang Dashan's goals.

There are a lot of small companies doing this kind of sand mining work. So far, there are 3764 space mining companies registered within the alliance, of which more than 1500 companies have mining licenses and mining spacecraft.

Chang Dashan encountered two waves of mining spacecraft in less than 10 minutes, which shows that there are not a few gold diggers in the asteroid belt.

The scanning equipment of the spacecraft is constantly detecting the surrounding asteroids, and their targets are iron-nickel asteroids or stone-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 asteroids or stone-iron asteroids are of relatively high value. As for the most numerous ice-earth asteroids, unless there are rare elements or special minerals on them, their economic value is very low.

As for the two waves of mining spacecraft that have passed here just now, why does Chang Dashan still continue to detect this area? The main reason is that the accuracy of civilian detection systems is not high. For those asteroids with a diameter of less than 100 meters, they need to be close to about 500 kilometers to find them. .

This has led 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. Maybe there was no asteroid here an hour ago, and there will be an hour later.

[Dashan, have you found any valuable asteroids?] Zhang Xinghang asked.

[Not yet, the three detected are all ordinary ice-soil type. ] Chang Dashan looked at the detection system while answering.

Zhang Xinghang also understands the status quo of this industry to some extent. Asteroid mining more or less requires luck. Many people may not come across a valuable asteroid for ten days and a half months. to valuable asteroids.

If you encounter a mineable asteroid as soon as you enter the asteroid belt, you will really make a lot of money. Obviously this is impossible, and space mining is risky.

The spacecraft formation can operate in the asteroid belt for more than ten days under the condition of low-speed cruise, of course, the premise is that the living materials are fully prepared.

The prospecting spaceship was boring. After Zhang Xinghang looked at the logbook, he no longer paid attention to this aspect, but browsed Bluestar's network information through the quantum communication system.

[Oceania Daily: The Council of the Alliance held a global ecological protection conference in Tokyo, and decided to cut all marine fishing within the alliance within the next 10 years, implement a complete ban on fishing in the sea areas within the alliance, and enforce regulations on Antarctica and nearby sea areas. , The Arctic Ocean is a nature reserve, and any natural resource exploitation and commercial development beyond the standard are strictly prohibited in the reserve...]
Zhang Xinghang looked at the news. In fact, he is very supportive of this bill. The meat demand within the alliance can now be solved by using artificial meat and imitating natural farming, and there is no need for ocean fishing.

The alliance is currently relocating fishermen in batches. For example, some young and strong fishermen have been diverted recently to serve as ocean patrol officers. In addition, many fishermen over 60 years old are 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, the life span of human beings has been increased to the limit of 450 years. Now 100 years old is no more than a boy, 100-200 years old is a youth, 200-300 years old is a man, and 300-450 years is an old age. Of course, this is the description of the cell life of the body. , in fact, the offspring of enhanced people do not need genetic enhancement, and the growth and development period and mental maturity period are shorter. The researchers predict that the offspring of enhanced people will be equivalent to the current 12-year-old adult in 14 to 20 years.

In other words, after being strengthened, there are generally teenagers and a small number of young people in the alliance. This terrible increase in the life expectancy of the whole people has brought a new impetus to the alliance.

In fact, re-education in the alliance is very hot now. The enhanced people who have been genetically strengthened have terrible learning ability, and abilities such as photographic memory are standard equipment.

After Zhang Xinghang's parents underwent genetic enhancement, they went to participate in re-education training. It seems that after decades of fighting in the mall, his father was also tired, so he chose to study cosmic astronomy and nuclear physics.

After watching the news for a while, Zhang Xinghang also entered a holographic classroom, and he himself is also studying. The alliance not only has the knowledge of human civilization, but also the knowledge of Anluo civilization and Soth civilization.

Engineering, machinery, physics, mathematics, silicon-based life science, etc. of Soss civilization, genes, viruses, environmental modification, quantum communication, biological computer, etc. of Anluo civilization.

This is very lucky for human civilization. When it was not yet strong, it encountered a civilization seed spaceship, a declining wandering civilization, and they happened to be used by human beings and became the nourishment for human beings to thrive.

Zhang Xinghang took elective courses on nano-atom smelting, quantum communication and the history of Soss civilization unique to human beings.

[Mr. Zhang, good news, an iron-nickel asteroid with a diameter of 20-30 meters was discovered. ] Chang Dashan reported the news excitedly.

Zhang Xinghang, who had just attended two classes, had to quit the holographic class, so he focused on the spaceship again.

[Is it an unowned asteroid?] Zhang Xinghang quickly asked.

[I checked, there is no ore star encoder on it, it is an unowned asteroid. ] Chang Dashan replied.

[Then get ready to mine! ] Zhang Xinghang happily ordered, he did not expect that the first time he went out, he would meet a good start.

Provided 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 a height of 18 to 20 meters, and a total volume of about 8400 cubic meters. It is a typical asteroid. iron-nickel asteroids.

A worker bee-class mining spacecraft approached the "capsule asteroid", and laser beams cut the planet into cubes of 1 cubic meter.

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 4.2 tons.

Not only does it contain common iron and nickel elements, but it also contains quite high amounts of lithium and zinc elements. After a comprehensive assessment, the ore is valued at 440 yuan per ton, and the value of this asteroid is about 1800 million.

In the asteroid belt, wealth and opportunities stimulate countless mining spaceships to search here and there, hoping to become the lucky one who gets rich overnight.

(End of this chapter)