Great Power Heavy Industry: Rise

Chapter 367 Yi Shuihan

2034 5 Month 26 Day.

In the deep space more than 2 million kilometers away from the earth, the Star Reacher led Icarus and was still on his way.

Today is the 30th day of continuous acceleration for Icarus. The speed of Icarus has increased from 36 kilometers per second to 100 kilometers per second.

According to this speed, theoretically they can rush back to the earth in about 30 days, but it is impossible in practice.

Because three days later, the fourth step of the Star Reaching Plan will be launched, and the deceleration of Icarus will begin.

When reaching the earth, the speed of Icarus must be lowered below the second cosmic speed of 11.2 kilometers per second relative to the earth, that is, less than the "escape velocity" from the earth's gravity.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Zhong Cheng ordered to shut down all Zhu Rong's tweets.

Then all 360 Zhurong electric pushers will be dismantled from the back of Icarus and installed on its front.

This not only exhausted them enough, but also tossed Icarus badly.

To provide propellant for the Zhurong electric propulsion, they have excavated nearly 100 million tons of rock from the surface of Icarus.

Such excavation was not random, but carried out according to a precise plan formulated in advance, cutting off the protruding parts of Icarus' surface, and finally trimming Icarus into a smooth standard sphere.

This renovation project will continue until the middle and late stages of the space elevator project.

Because according to the plan formulated by Yang Xi, Icarus not only had to smooth the surface but also laid several layers of soil building materials.

Its interior will also be taken out one by one to become scientific research, production or military bases.

Three days later, the installation of Zhurong electric pusher was completed, and Icarus entered a slow deceleration phase.

While Zhong Cheng and others were celebrating, they received a big news from the earth.

It was a message from Zhou Hu, asking them to watch the live news program at 10:[-] this morning: the launch ceremony of the Space Shuttle Super Challenger, the space shuttle of Xingwang Company on its expedition to Jupiter.

Although it happened 10 minutes ago when Zhong Cheng and the others saw the information from the earth, they couldn't change their mood when they watched it. Everyone had mixed feelings.

Seeing Robin Farias speaking uprightly, as if Xingwang Company was saving all mankind, it made everyone angry, and I really wanted to expose his face on the spot.

But seeing the more than 300 members on the Super Challenger ready to go, everyone still cheered for them.

After all, they still represent 80 billion humans to explore unknown planets that humans have never set foot on, and the risks involved are far greater than those that landed on Ceres.

But Zhong Cheng thought more, Xingwang Company's move must be in response to Red Star Company's star-seeking plan, the key is to win the attention of public opinion and achieve the purpose of attracting international capital.

But is the Challenger program they scramble to mount ready?

Robin announced that Starnet will send five large space shuttles to Jupiter successively, and start the development project of Ganymede before their spaceships are put into use.

However, according to the reliable information obtained by Zhong Cheng, Solar System Power Company and Xingwang Company have only one Super Challenger space shuttle so far, and there is no construction plan for the same type of space shuttle.

And their Earth-Moon flight shows no signs of decreasing within a year, where did they get five space shuttles to go to Jupiter?

After simple calculations, Zhong Cheng, Yang Xi, Lin Wei, Hu Bo and others came to a terrifying conclusion.

After the departure of the Super Challenger space shuttle, except for the resupply in the asteroid belt one month later, they will not receive any assistance in the next one and a half years.

Will they survive the day when the Super Apollo spacecraft reaches Ganymede?

The answer is disappointing!

Seeing the live broadcast, under the eyes of everyone, the Super Challenger slowly drove out of the space station dock in the lunar geostationary orbit.

The wind is slack and the water is cold, and the strong men will never return once they go!
Zhong Cheng and the others sighed and wished them good luck in their hearts.

These 308 strong men are all Westerners, and none of them know each other.

But in the name of opening up the living space for human beings, they have unfortunately been reduced to the sacrifices of capital power.

After a few decades, even now, who cares about their personal feelings, who cares about their fear, sadness, reluctance to their family and loved ones...

It's just that their deeds will become a monument in the era of human adventures in the solar system, making future generations sigh their fearless spirit.

Just like the famous achievements that occurred in the age of great navigation more than 500 years ago, Columbus discovered America, Magellan sailed around the world, etc.

Behind these glamorous events, the stories of those little people hidden in them have been consciously ignored by people.

……

The crew on the Asterisker had no more time to care about the fate of their counterparts on the Super Challenger, and their working hours were full.

In order to meet the propellant consumption of 360 large Zhurong electric pushers, the 180 crew members were divided into four groups and went to Icarus to mine in rotation.

Even the crew members, members of the medical rescue team, and those returning to Earth on the Star Reacher are no exception.

Because Zhurong Electric Push is like a huge gold-eating beast. To satisfy its appetite, more than 40 people need to continuously mine rocks and send them back to Xingxing to refine them into pure iron powder.

All Zhurong electric pushers consume about 1 tons of pure iron powder every day, which requires the mining of 2 tons of rock.

On average, 1 tons have to be excavated in one hour, and 840 tons can be shared by one person, and they are also responsible for transporting rocks to the raw material transfer station.

The operation of cutting rocks in a vacuum weightless environment is extremely energy-intensive and physically exhausting. Ordinary crew members can last up to 3 hours for a single out-of-cabin operation.

It takes twice as long to recover after returning to Star Picking.

Therefore, the 180 crew members were divided into four groups, with 45 people in one group, 2 hours of out-of-vehicle operation and 6 hours of rest.

But most people have other jobs, and this 6-hour break is not a complete rest.

Everyone can't help but miss the leisurely days on the way from the earth to Ceres.

……

Two months later, on July 7.

The scene of the earth, the moon, the sun and the sky reappeared in the starry sky.

The Star Reacher finally returned to a position only 50 kilometers away from the earth, with a speed of 12 kilometers per second relative to the earth.

The fourth step of the Star Reaching Project is completed, and the next step is the fifth step, which is to send Icarus to the predetermined orbit around the earth.

This is a very difficult and delicate task, because Icarus's intended orbit is not in a geostationary orbit above the Earth's equator.

But it must be kept in a relatively static state with Yuxu Peak located at the Kunlun Pass in the northern hemisphere.

After repeated calculations and simulations by Zhong Cheng and Yang Xi, the situation was better than expected.

Because Isros is an iron asteroid, after the magnetization treatment, the earth's magnetic field can be used to balance the decomposition moment of the angle between the earth's gravitational force and centrifugal force.

Moreover, the weight of Icarus has reached 2 million tons. Putting it 3 kilometers above the ground and building the space city connected by the space elevator near 2 kilometers can just maintain the stability of the entire ladder system.

In this way, a lot of engineering volume and materials are saved compared with the originally planned position of 10 kilometers.

Icarus will enter the gravitational circle of the earth tonight, and everyone cheers up.

All the Zhurong electric pushers installed on the front of Icarus will be removed in half and installed on the back of it to ensure the control of its running track.

If Icarus falls into the earth accidentally, it will be a devastating disaster!

(End of this chapter)