Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
“That’s impossible!”
With a critical attitude, Fred opened a video called “Asteroid Mining Record” on Celestial Trade’s website. His expression gradually turned from disdain to suspicion, then changed from disdain to shock. When he saw two robotic arms popping up two laser knives like light sabers, his heart suddenly sank.
Then there was the exclamation, “That’s impossible!”
The video continued.
The two laser knives interlaced, and two holes were created without any hindrance. Then the tool turned into a hammer, and the large ore was peeled off from the asteroid. The mechanical hammer smashed on the ore, and at the same time, it slammed on his heart. The technical capabilities of Future Mining completely shattered his doubts and disdain.
He was the editor-in-chief of the Nouveau York Times Technology Editorial. In recent years, he realized that readers seemed to be more and more keen on understanding what Future Group created compared to Apple and Microsoft’s product launches.
Since NASA’s announcement that Celestial Trade had dragged the Bennu asteroid to the Earth-Moon system, he already published dozens of articles in succession and continued to follow the story.
“Who gave the power to the madman on the other side of the Pacific Ocean to drag a three billion TNT-equivalent asteroid close to our home?”
“Technology must be limited; unconstrained technology will only accelerate our destruction! This time it’s three billion tons of explosives—what about next time? Ten billion tons? God can’t save us! We’ll become extinct like the dinosaurs after a hard landing of the asteroid!”
As the editor of the Technology Editorial, his comments seemed to be largely inappropriate. But as an editor who climbed up the ranks as a reporter, he knew what a journalist should say. The seriousness and rigor of the news? No, no, that was the old tradition of the last century. News without hype and sensation has no future!
Therefore, he chose to oppose mainstream society.
At the same time, he also believed he was obliged to stand up and remind the UA citizens who were blindly pursuing Future Technology. They must be sensible in dealing with the more and more arrogant man.
Because of his critical words and controversial speeches, he was even invited as a guest on famous talk shows and appeared on TV as the editor-in-chief.
On his computer, a document criticizing Celestial Trade dragging the asteroid to the Earth-Moon system was already edited, and it could be published after his return. In order to create this piece, he traveled almost to all the colleges and universities in the country. He even flew to Massachusetts to see astronomical experts who taught at Harvard University to prove that mining on the Bennu asteroid was impractical and dangerous.
He was very confident about this report.
Because a professor at Harvard University assured him that even the most advanced technology in the world could only bring back a few mineral samples from the Bennu asteroid at best. The ore transported back and forth from 400,000 kilometers away would have a fuel consummation cost several times higher than the value of the collected ores.
It turned out this professor had been in the laboratory for too long and couldn’t keep up with the times.
The video released by Celestial Trade slapped Fred’s face so hard that he became numb.
Impossible?
Celestial Trade told him with actual footage that impossible was nothing.
He speechlessly closed the video and rubbed his sore eyebrows.
“Fu*k, what have I done in the past half month…”
He devoted too much effort on this report. However, if it was published, it would be like putting his face forward and asking people to slap it again.
But if he just gave up…
In the end, he made a decision to abandon the report, but the moment he hit delete, he felt like his heart started to bleed.
…
Shangjing.
In the space technology laboratory of the National Science and Technology University, an old gray-haired professor was staring at the images on the computer screen meticulously. Standing behind him was an old man standing straight with a serious expression, and a middle-aged man with a square face.
The old man’s name was Liu Zhusheng, an academician of the Hua Academy of Sciences.
He had just returned from Coro Island. After two or three days of rest, the old leader came to see him and gave him a video file. The video was the operation video of the latest Stingray P-1. The country was very interested in the engine used by the Stingray P-1 and the “laser knife” used to cut the ore, so they came to see him as the most prestigious expert in the aerospace field. They hoped he could carefully look at it and see if he could gain some clues from the video.
After repeatedly watching the video a dozen times, Academician Liu sighed and closed the video after the twentieth time.
The middle-aged man standing behind him rushed to ask, “What do you think? Academician Liu, did you find out anything?”
Liu Zhusheng glanced at him, picked up the teacup, soothed his throat, and began to speak without hesitation.
“If my guesses aren’t wrong, their engine uses electric propulsion technology.”
The middle-aged man was slightly moved, he was about to say something, but Academician Liu slowly spoke before he get a word in.
“I know what you want to say—you want to say this is impossible. Electric rockets are less than an order of magnitude less powerful than chemical rockets in terms of thrust.”
“But I want to tell you now that the specific impulse of the electromagnetic propulsion system is much higher than that of the chemical fuel propulsion system. With the electromagnetic acceleration principle, it’s theoretically possible to obtain a velocity that’s one to two orders of magnitude higher than when using chemical fuel. I don’t know what future spacecraft will look like, but I’m sure that future spacecraft won’t be tied with fuel tanks, wasting a lot of valuable fuel on the fuel itself.”
“The impossible thing you want to say is just something that can’t be done with our technology.”
Academician Liu’s words made the middle-aged man speechless.
As the head of the Hua Aerospace Science and Technology Group, only the old man who designed the Shenzhou-series rockets dared to talk to him like this, and he couldn’t argue back. Although his administrative level was much higher than his, on the importance of this country, ten of him wasn’t comparable to an academician with real knowledge.
The old man who had been standing there without saying a word slowly spoke.
“What about the laser knife that can cut minerals?”
“That’s not a laser knife.” Academician Liu shook his head. “Although it’s not something in my field, I know a little about it. That’s probably ion jet technology. By jetting high-temperature ions, even a piece of depleted uranium steel placed there could be cut into pieces, not to mention ores.”
The old man’s expression changed, and the middle-aged man’s shock was even more obvious.
This meant that even with a tank, the ion jet knife could easily penetrate it like a piece of paper.
Hiding his shocked state, the old man asked, “With Stingray P-1 as an example, how big is the gap in electric propulsion and ion jet technology? Is there any possibility of replication?”
Liu Zhusheng shook his head.
“Our starting point in the aerospace field is too low. Compared with UA and Russia, we still have a big gap. If we directly compare to Celestial Trade… To be honest, we’re simply no match.”
There is no way to compare…
The middle-aged man had a bitter smile.
Although he didn’t imagine that the Aerospace Science and Technology Group could develop a similar spaceship in his hand, Academician Liu’s answer still made him feel bitter.
Just then, the old man spoke again.
“Strengthen our cooperation with Celestial Trade, especially in the aerospace sector. Since the prospects for the development of outer space resources have been proven, we must not fall behind.” When the old man said this, he was looking at the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man understood and immediately nodded.
“I understand!”
