Great Power Heavy Industry: Rise

Chapter 354

Hu Bo smiled and said that the description of the Deep Space Network as the solar system version of GPS is indeed very vivid.

With the deep space network, even if the spacecraft is hundreds of millions of kilometers away from the earth, it can still know its position accurately, maintain contact with the earth headquarters, and even surf the Internet.

The lonely deep space is not so lonely anymore!

Lin Wei looked at the flight trajectory of Star Reacher on the console, and asked strangely: "Why don't we take a straight line to Ceres, but take such an unplanned parabola?"

Yang Xi replied first: "Although the starry sky seems to be empty, the aircraft will still be affected by the gravitational force of the sun, the earth, Jupiter, and Mars."

"I think the reason why we don't go in a straight line is to use these gravitational forces!"

Hu Bo smiled and said: "In the past when there were no nuclear power engines, it was indeed a last resort to use the 'gravitational slingshot' of a large star to accelerate the aircraft and reduce fuel consumption."

"It is basically not used now, except for cases where it is indeed more 'down the road'."

"The current trajectory of the Star Reacher is because we have just been ejected by the earth. It is troublesome to change the course of a high-speed aircraft in deep space. In order to save energy and working fluid, we would rather slow down."

Yang Xi nodded when he heard the words, he was really just a layman in space navigation.

But now that the space age has come, as the technical director of Red Star Company, he must understand and master this knowledge.

Yang Xi secretly made up his mind to start learning space voyage technology from this mission.

Everyone didn't know that Yang Xi was stimulated by Hu Bo's words and continued to chat.

Zhong Cheng asked about the time of the voyage. Since he was leaving the earth and had too many things to deal with, he did not ask about the specific itinerary of the Star Reaching Project.

He handed over the matter to Li Qiwei and Hu Bo.

Although Li Qiwei is the captain of the Star Reaching, but this time he has an attitude of learning, so he still asks Hu Bo to answer.

Hu Bo was also not polite. In space travel, those who are capable are teachers, and there are not so many empty-headed things.

"It's not the best time for us to go to Ceres this time. Ceres is not at the perigee position now."

"It takes 4.6 years for Ceres to revolve around the sun, and the speed of the earth's revolution is about 4 times that of Ceres. Now Ceres is left behind by the earth, and the distance is getting farther and farther."

"So the distance we sailed this time is not 1.59 million kilometers, but 3.6 million kilometers. At the current speed of 50 kilometers per second, it will take 83 days to reach Ceres."

"Based on the time on Earth, the date of arrival at Ceres is around March 3 next year."

Although Zhong Cheng and the others had known beforehand that it would take half a year to return from the voyage, but now they really heard it from Hu Bo, it still feels a bit too long.

If all goes well, return to Earth will be at the end of June in 2034.

Yang Xi asked whether the speed could be increased, and the nuclear materials and working fluids consumed could be replenished on Ceres.

But Hu Bo does not recommend this. He believes that deep space navigation has too many unpredictable risks.

If the Asterisk cannot land on Ceres or something unexpected happens on Ceres, then the Asterisk will fall into a predicament of not being able to return.

He was entrusted by Wu Tie to send Zhong Cheng and others back to Earth without any risk, and he dared not take such a risk.

Hu Bo persuaded that this is also because the aerospace plane is not suitable for deep space navigation, because it has to go to and from the earth's atmosphere, so its volume and tonnage are limited.

If it is a real spacecraft, it can carry more nuclear materials and working fluids, and it will be no problem to increase the speed to more than 200 kilometers per second.

In this way, if Ceres is at the perigee position, it can go back and forth in less than a month.

And it only takes 3 days to get to Mars.

In the future, when there are spaceships, so much time will not be wasted on the way.

Hu Bo may not be clear, but Zhong Cheng and others know that the super Apollo spacecraft jointly built by Solar System Power Company and Xingwang Company has a designed cruising speed of 500 kilometers per second.

It only takes one month to go to Saturn, which is 13.5 billion kilometers away, and only 18 days to go to Jupiter, which is closer.

And the speed of the spacecraft that Red Star will build will certainly not be slower than theirs.

At that time, the solar system will really become the back garden of mankind, and this time may only take two or three years.

After listening to Hu Bo's opinion, Zhong Cheng and others had to accept the reality that it would take 83 days to fly to Ceres.

Take it as a rare vacation!
At this time, it was already 12 o'clock, and Zhong Cheng and others went to the restaurant in the middle of Zhaixing to have "lunch".

In fact, in deep space, there is no difference between day and night at all.

Just for the health of the crew, the work and rest time in the deep space aircraft is artificially stipulated according to the normal biological clock cycle of human beings.

There is no dedicated chef on Zhaixing. The standard working meal is two dishes and one soup, one meat and one vegetable, and the staple food is wood grain.

Zhong Cheng didn't start a small stove, so he ate working meals with everyone in the restaurant.

Today's dishes are braised beef and stir-fried cabbage, but the portions are not large, even Muhe is only three taels per person.

Hu Bo introduced that during deep space voyages, the food carried on the aircraft is very precious and must be supplied in limited quantities to ensure the normal nutritional intake of the crew.

It’s okay to be on the asterisk, and there are normal stir-fried dishes to eat.

In the past, they could only eat liquid food on the space plane they took, just like squeezing toothpaste. It was a painful thing for them to eat, but it was not enough to not eat.

Zhong Cheng ate up his portion of food in a few strokes, and he didn't order another, because he didn't want to be special.

After dinner, Hu Bo went to the command center to change people.

Zhong Cheng took Yang Xi and Lin Wei around the Star Reacher and checked the situation of the employees.

Finally, they came to the observation cabin at the tail of the Star Reacher, from which they could see the scenery behind the space plane.

Since the Star Reacher is flying away from the earth, with its side and rear facing the sun, the sun, the earth and the moon cannot be seen in the command center hall.

It has been more than 4 hours since the Zhaihao number departed, and it is more than 60 kilometers away from the earth. The three of them saw a spectacle outside the window that cannot be seen on the earth or the moon.

The earth and the moon hang in the sky at the same time, with the sun on one side.

Due to the visual error caused by the distance, the moon is almost as large as the earth and blocks a small half of the earth.

Under the reflection of the sun's dazzling light, the earth and the moon are extremely brilliant in the starry sky!
The three of them stared at the window for a long time, shocked by the spectacle of the earth, the moon, the sun, and the sky, but they couldn't find any suitable words to describe it.

Zhong Cheng even felt that human language actually limits human thinking!

"That's our Mother Earth!"

In the end, Yang Xi expressed his excitement emotionally, but he looked dry, and he himself found it funny.

Lin Wei said excitedly: "In at most three years, our Sky Ladder and Tiangong City will be completed, and it will be as convenient to go out of the earth as going to Haicheng."

Yang Xi nodded, "Well, after a long vacation, I will take my wife and children to travel to Mars, Venus, and Mercury!"

"Why not go to Jupiter and Saturn?" Zhong Cheng joked.

Yang Xi chuckled, "Their territory is not safe, and your trip to the moon is already thrilling enough, I dare not!"

Zhong Cheng sighed: "Yes, the world is far away over there. Who can tell what my old friends have done there!"

(End of this chapter)