Epoch of Twilight

Interplanetary voyage has entered the countdown.

Shortly after collecting the body of the space giant, the first asteroid mining finally began in order to replenish the resources consumed by the mother ship before departure.

A small asteroid not far away became the target of this time.

The asteroid is quite large, about six kilometers wide at its widest point and three kilometers at its narrowest point. The surface is covered with ice and snow. Because it is close to the sun, its tail pulls out a hundred-kilometer-long tail, which looks spectacular.

Fortunately, in the detection, the thickness of the surface ice and snow is not large, only tens of meters thick, the inside is a large number of iron meteorites, and contains a large number of other elements.

Human consumption of water resources is not large, but metal consumption is the most. This mining is mainly to collect metals, and a meteorite like this is enough to make up all the stocks.

The hundreds of engineering robots in the early stage, loaded with a large amount of materials and tools, began to land on the asteroids. In the following time, they will clear the ice and snow on the asteroids, level the ground, and build simple power plants and lay the lines.

In addition, on the side of the asteroid, they will also be equipped with three engines so that they do not drift too far.

The entire three-way project took less than a week.

Then, the second batch of engineering robots pushed a modular factory like a giant container. Starting from the space, the plasma flames from behind the robots rushed from time to time, and they continued to rush like a firefly. Meteorite.

The modular factory slowly descended according to the design position, and the dark buckles arranged on the ground and the bottom of the factory were seamlessly locked, and the factory began to expand gradually.

These are real unmanned factories, with no extra lights, no access to all directions, large or circular, or hugely complex metal smelting equipment with cylindrical structure, crowded into a pile, making full use of all the space. .

Soon after it was rolled out, a huge metal pipe with a diameter of nearly 30 meters would rise slowly like a behemoth, and its pipe mouth would be straight to an open space not far away. The next moment, the horrible magnetic field would Dissipated in the pipeline.

Soon the ground began to soften like a liquid, which sucked the material while continuing to extend downwards.

The reason why this metal pipe is so large in diameter is that it is telescopic. There are hundreds of metal pipes nested inside. According to the design, it can penetrate into the depth of five kilometers underground and absorb minerals.

Asteroid mining, in the Bolxing civilization, the technology is quite mature, with a complete set of procedures, and as a human being inherited to absorb this technology, although only for the first time, everything is well-organized and familiar.

......

The time is very fast until April 2020, when humans have been parked in space for four years.

All the preparations for the voyage have been completed. For the sake of safety, even the numerous gullies of the outer armor of the mother ship have been retired, making the entire ship become as bright as new, even those that are far from being scrapped and used. The parts that have been in use for a certain period of time have all been replaced.

Over the past month, it has been seen everywhere that countless spacecraft maintenance engineers with various detection instruments have repeatedly tested every corner to discover possible hidden dangers.

......

Unconsciously, the social atmosphere of peace and stability has become tense and depressed.

Although a large number of news media are repeatedly propagating and inspiring every day, each person's face becomes more anxious and upset as time goes by.

Even Luo Yuan often feels imitation in his heart.

After all, this is an adventure of unknown future. Perhaps this is the long march of mankind to re-cast brilliant, or perhaps a human being does not return, but no matter how embarrassing, the time of departure is still approaching day by day.

The route of the Star Road has already been determined.

The Barnard galaxies, which are located about 6 light years from Earth, are the targets of this time. The reason for choosing this star is that it is a relatively close distance, the first voyage, too far away, and it is too risky for humans. The risk is too great.

On the other hand, it is because the light it emits is the weakest. This is a red dwarf star. It belongs to the ancient star of the old age. It emits a dark red faint light and is a good hiding place.

In fact, because the distance between the two civilizations is completely astronomical, it is not easy to detect each other. Even advanced detection systems and efficient computers are powerless in front of the vast starry sky.

And because of the distance between each other, the movement is calculated in light years.

A light-year distance, that is, the distance that light travels for one year. For example, the glass star is 28 light years away from the earth. It takes 28 years for the light emitted by the solar star to pass through to the solar system. This means that the image of the human being obtained is completely a 28-year-old historical picture.

The reverse is also true.

It’s less than five years since the Bolshes’ advance force was annihilated, that is, at least for the next 23 years, human actions are completely invisible unless the other party has developed a light-free superluminal detection capability, or The speed of the battleship exceeds the speed of light.

No matter how the former hides, the goal of human beings has been locked, while the latter is slightly better, at least there is a hidden time.

But this is only the worst case!

In general, as long as its detection system relies on light, the darker the area, the lower the probability of being discovered. Like the vast black field between stars, if you want to find a spaceship, the chances are low and can be ignored. Except, but humans can not hide in the dark domain forever, it is a zone close to absolute vacuum, almost no material supplement.

It may be like a mouse to "save and use" for decades, but it is paid at the expense of human development.

In the past six months, a total of 240,000 newborns have been born, of which 50,000 are produced by the mother, and the remaining 190,000 are produced by laboratories. At such a growth rate, the number of humans will turn over after more than ten years. Last time, the spacecraft will become more crowded and no longer able to accommodate more people.

Therefore, human beings must find a new stellar system for temporary residence.

According to the mother ship's detection, there are rocky planets and gaseous planets in the Barnard stellar system. Whether it is a replenishment site supplemented by resources or a resident development, it is quite suitable, and it is completely in a position to enter and retreat.

As for the harsh and cruel environment there, it is totally worth mentioning for the human beings who have initially entered the interstellar civilization.

As long as you give enough time, with the scientific and technological strength of today's human beings, you can completely transform a planet, but the efficiency is high.

"Mayor, at this time, the anti-substance laboratory sent a good news!" At this time, the secretary Chen Xinjie turned his face and smiled.

"Oh!" Luo Yuan took the documents and flipped a few pages. The original brows suddenly stretched out: "The energy conversion rate has reached three million to one!"

In fact, the first antimatter experimental preparation plant has been completed for half a year, but because the technology has not yet fully matured, the safety is not fully guaranteed, and it has been in the state of technical verification.

Even if the production is within the safe dose range of production, after all, this is a spaceship, in the event of an accident, enough to cause serious damage.

"Unfortunately, this kind of thing is too dangerous. It can't be produced in the spacecraft. It can only be used as a technical reserve." Luo Yuan then said to Chen Xinjie: "Give a commendation announcement and let their labs continue to work harder!"

"Okay, mayor!"

Chen Xinjie quickly left, Luo Yuan picked up the information and looked through it again, full of joy.

Do not look at the energy conversion rate of only three million to one. In fact, to achieve this ratio, large-scale antimatter production has basically matured, with the energy production efficiency of nuclear fusion furnaces, basically six million tons to ten million tons of pure water. It can produce one ton of antimatter.

It may be too extravagant to use as a power source, but as a strategic weapon, it is far from being the value of the surface!