Infinite Life: Trapped in a lifetime

As the Star continued to accelerate, it reached the orbit of Neptune.

Time has passed from the end of April, when we set sail, to the following year.

This year, Mo Dao was eighty-five years old.

The aging of the body brings about a serious decline in energy.

Although he was still sitting in the small library inside the spacecraft with his girl Qin Huaishi as he was on the ground,

Qin Huaishi looked through some previous journals or other books of interest.

Mo Dao will also think about some problems he encountered in his previous research career.

But most of the time, even thinking through some of the ideas in previous research can already consume all the energy.

Even inside the spacecraft, the route from one end to the other is not that far, and it would be difficult for Mo Dao to walk there without taking a break.

The normal sleep time is getting shorter and shorter, but soon after waking up, I can't help but feel sleepy again.

But these are nothing to Mo Dao.

He has experienced youth many times and has experienced old age many times.

The body is directly affected by hormone levels, but the mood is relatively peaceful.

most of the time,

Mo Dao wouldn't force himself to think about any problems.

Since I couldn't keep up with my energy, I just had a brief chat with Qin Huaishi.

Or walk along the small garden inside the spacecraft,

Or just lean on each other somewhere and sit for a while,

The two people who have spent decades together in this life do not have to say anything.

Each other can feel each other's calmness at this moment.

Even on such a spaceship,

The lives of the two of them are like a gurgling stream.

A trickle, but nothing boring.

With each other around, there is no loneliness.

…

Exploration Institute on the ground.

After Mo Dao left with the Star,

One of Mo Dao's students took over the next work of the Qiusuo Research Institute.

As for Qiusuo Research Institute, after the founder Mo Dao left,

It still adheres to a more radical or pioneering mode of operation.

After the Star set sail,

The Qiushi Research Institute continues to advance its extraterrestrial development plans in the solar system and has not stopped.

In the same year, it was announced that it would increase the degree and speed of development of distant stars in the solar system.

In order to achieve the goal of the second phase of the voyage mentioned by Mo Dao when he created the Exploration Institute, to achieve complete development and control of resources in the solar system.

…

When the Star probe passed through the orbit of Neptune,

In addition to the significance of the matter itself,

Mo Dao also performed a side mission in this voyage plan.

From inside the Star, an intelligent detection base was placed on one of Neptune's satellites.

When the Star probe passed the orbit of Neptune, it was about 10 million kilometers away from Neptune.

In addition to the power and landing procedures provided by this intelligent exploration base,

The Suigu subroutine carried by the Star also helped this intelligent detection base complete the entire delivery process.

This integrated intelligent detection base,

In addition to completing some scientific research and detection tasks, there is also a small cabin inside.

When human astronauts arrive here in the future, this small cabin will also be put into use as part of the permanent base.

The entire delivery work,

It was mainly completed by Suigu, and Mo Dao and the other two were just serving as witnesses.

The Star did not stop from accelerating due to this,

Even when passing through the orbit of Neptune, the Star still kept accelerating.

From the orbit of Neptune and beyond,

Zvezda will enter the Kuiper Belt.

The width of the Kuiper Belt is approximately the same as the distance from the ground to Neptune.

In the Kuiper Belt, Zvezda will continue to accelerate.

…

In May of that year,

The Star went straight through the Kuiper Belt, which is about twenty astronomical units wide.

The time spent in between is obviously shorter than the time it takes for the Star to reach Neptune.

This is also a manifestation of the acceleration of the Star.

The Kuiper Belt is composed of a large number of asteroids and various meteorites.

However, this large amount is only relative.

In fact, for the space in which it is located, various asteroids are still extremely rare.

For the Star that sails into and through this area,

The most intuitive thing is that most of the time,

The picture that can be seen outside the Star is still empty. Apart from using the quiet universe itself, nothing can be seen.

During the several months of driving here, there were only a few times when one or two very distant, seemingly small asteroids could be directly observed in the field of view.

And after passing through the Kuiper Belt,

Going forward, the universe becomes even more empty and dead.

It was also at this stage that the Star gradually lost one-way contact with the ground.

As for the connection between the ground and the Star, it was lost even earlier.

The Star is currently mankind's largest interstellar spacecraft, but its target is still too small in the universe.

…

From the inside to the outside of the solar system, probably the sun itself, and then the solid planets like the earth,

Then there is the asteroid belt, the gas planets, the Kuiper Belt, and finally the Oort Cloud.

At this moment, the starship that has passed through the Kuiper Belt,

It seems to have reached the last level of the solar system,

As long as you pass through this last layer, you can completely leave the scope of the solar system.

However, this last level is really too despairing.

After passing through the Kuiper Belt, the Star is about 70 astronomical units from the earth.

As for the inner layer of the Oort Nebula, the closest and thinnest position is probably more than 2,000 astronomical units away from the earth.

Considering the Oort Nebula as a whole, the more realistic location of the inner layer is about 50,000 astronomical units from the earth.

The width of the Oort Nebula is about one light-year.

In other words, the Star is destined to be unable to escape the Oort Nebula.

The thinness of the Oort Nebula means that every long-distance spacecraft that flies into this area will

It is difficult to obtain supplementary resources.

One light-year in width is enough to consume all the energy and resources carried by the Star.

This is also the reason why it is only theoretically possible for the Zhejiang Star to reach Proxima Centauri.

Even if the Star can last for more than five hundred years, with the current technology,

The resources on board the spacecraft can hardly support the Starship to pass through the Oort Nebula, which is a light-year away.

…

Time continues to pass.

This year, Mo Dao was eighty-six years old.

The Starship did not stop accelerating, but it was still far away from the inner edge of the Oort Cloud.

Mo Dao is eighty-seven years old,

This year, after more than three years of acceleration, the acceleration of the Star was completed.

The sailing speed reached 0.8% of the speed of light.

but,

The refrigerant that the Qiusuo Research Institute prepared for Mo Dao and the others and was used for deceleration was actually of little significance.

This part of the working fluid was also used by Mo Dao and the others to continue accelerating the Star.

After another two months passed,

The speed of the Star has reached the ultimate speed that the Star can reach, which is close to one percent of the speed of light.

For humans, this speed is already extremely exaggerated, so fast that a certain degree of relativistic effects need to be considered.

This is also the limit of what can be achieved in this era.

But placed in the universe, it is still too slow, too slow.

and then,

Time has come when Mo Dao is eighty-eight years old.

This year,

The final destination of this long-distance voyage is still far away.

Even if you don’t consider slowing down,

If it continues to sail at its current speed, it will take more than three hundred years for the Star to reach Proxima Centauri.