The celebration of the fusion ignition day came to an end, but the excitement that burned in people’s hearts did not cool down. Instead, it was pushed to a new peak.
Space elevator!
This magnificent project originally existed only in people’s imagination. No one had ever thought that one day in the future, it would truly enter their lives.
It seemed that this day was coming soon.
Regardless of what the audiences in front of the TV were thinking, for those sitting in the venue, almost no one suspected that Lu Zhou was joking with them.
After all, just three days ago, they sat here and witnessed a miracle with their eyes. They would never forget the shock brought to them by the aurora that enveloped the night sky of the entire city group.
Also, if even the second-generation controllable fusion problem of the century couldn’t stop him from moving forward, how could a space elevator stop him?
They were willing to believe in his ability and vision.
Even though it seemed impossible…
After the crowd rushed out of the venue in the Heart of Asia, they were diverted to the direct light rail station and parking lot under the guidance of the staff and security.
Everyone in the crowd was talking excitedly, and the expressions on their faces clearly showed what they were talking about.
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Heart of Asia Lounge, Li Guangya watched the crowd surging downstairs as a smirk of triumph gradually appeared on his face.
Hearing the footsteps coming from behind, he put his hands behind him and looked at the reflection in the floor-to-ceiling windows. He said with a smile, “Did you see the looks on those people’s faces?”
Walking to his side, Lu Zhou glanced at the plaza outside the windows. He replied in a casual tone, “I did, why?”
“It’s nothing, just feeling a little emotional.” Li Guangya squinted his eyes and continued, “In the board report five years ago, I reported on the strategic significance of the space elevator, but most of the board members mocked me. Although I didn’t do this to prove anything, I have to admit that this feeling is quite pleasant.”
Lu Zhou glanced at him and said, “I actually don’t really understand one thing.”
“What?”
“Why are you so obsessed with the space elevator?”
“On the one hand, it may be because of feelings.” Li Guangya smiled. After a pause, he continued in a serious tone, “On the other hand, because I have read a paper… or a research report. ”
“Report?”
“Yeah, about the development and utilization value of resources outside the asteroid belt.”
Li Guangya briefly described the content of the research report to Lu Zhou.
Ever since the industrial system on the Martian colony matured, the frontier of human civilization had expanded from the orbit of Mars to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The asteroid belt provided a large amount of low-cost and easy-to-use ores, which supported the huge industry system on Mars and provided a continuous supply of living materials and consumer goods for the society on Earth.
However, since the territory of human civilization expanded to the asteroid belt, this natural expansion of territory seemed to have stopped.
In the beginning, many sociological scholars and experts had the opinion that after their society developed to a stage of unprecedented prosperity, it would fall into the trap of over-prosperity. Because there was no existential crisis, the society as a whole would lose its driving force.
However, the research report gave a different viewpoint.
It interpreted this special social phenomenon from an unprecedented perspective.
Based on the fact that efficiency and economic value were the fundamental driving force of all social activities, that research report established a simple mathematical model and came up with a concept called “effective economic zone”.
That was, within the scope of this effective economic zone, human social activities would have more positive economic effects. However, once it exceeded this range, the economic effect would diminish with various factors such as distance and time.
The size of an effective economic zone was usually determined by many factors such as technological strength, industrial scale, and distribution area. At present, the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was the boundary of this “effective economic zone”.
Extracting resources from the world outside the asteroid belt, sending them to Mars for processing, and then transporting the processed products back to Earth. The supply chain beyond the effective economic zone would appear unprofitable due to cost issues. So after a company went through the cost estimates, it wouldn’t plan to conquer the world outside the asteroid belt.
Since the author of this research report was a well-known economics professor at the Pan-Asian Academy of Sciences, he was very influential in the field. Although Li Guangya was not from finance, he believed that the future of the Pan-Asian Cooperation lied in distant space. He had been paying close attention to research in this area.
After reading the research report, the idea of building a space elevator emerged in his mind.
The over-prosperous Pan-Asian Cooperation had begun to show signs of involution. Not only were the people content with the status quo, but the entire society had also lost its driving force for progress.
As an aspiring young man, he couldn’t sit back and watch this great alliance be caught up by other emerging alliances. They still had the great goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
The Pan-Asian Cooperation needed a super project that could drive the regional economy, expand the scope of the effective economic zone, and enable its citizens to regain their pride and honor.
The space elevator was undoubtedly an excellent choice.
Even though back then he was not the chairman of the Pan-Asian Cooperation, it did not prevent him from including “Project Redwood” in his governance program ahead of time.
He was determined to succeed!
“Speaking of which, I have to thank you.” Li Guangya glanced at Lu Zhou and said with a smile, “If it weren’t for you waking up at the right time, I bet those people would have labeled me a lunatic.”
Lu Zhou replied with an indifferent tone, “You’re welcome. It’s just a few words, and it’s much easier than the big trouble on Ceres… By the way, do you need my help in the subsequent design work?”
Unexpectedly, Lu Zhou, who was afraid of trouble, actually offered to help.
Li Guangya was taken aback for a moment. He then said with a smile, “Of course it is best if you are willing to help! If you are busy, that’s fine too. We’d be grateful if you could provide us assistance when necessary.”
Lu Zhou was surprised.
“It seems that you have been preparing for a while.”
“Of course.” Li Guangya smiled confidently as he said leisurely, “When I was still serving as the vice-chairman of the board of directors, I was already preparing for this day.”
That was five or six years ago.
At that time, the research on space elevators was still not taken seriously. After all, the key material problem was not solved, and no matter how much they talked about the project, it was only a fantasy. Therefore, neither academia nor industry regarded this thing as a project that could be realized in a short period of time.
If it hadn’t been for his efforts in getting the approval for the funding of more than one billion credits in the space elevator design field, as well as integrating the technical backbone of top research institutions such as the Pan-Asian Academy of Sciences Institute of Aeronautics, the Aerospace Facilities Design Institute, and other top research institutions to establish the initial R&D team for the space elevator project, none of this would have happened.
Now that the material problem had finally been solved, Li Guangya was full of confidence in realizing his ambition.
Although he was very curious about where this guy’s confidence came from, Lu Zhou didn’t say much. He just simply nodded.
“Since you have prepared in advance, then I can rest assured.”
The system did not stipulate his participation in this project. As long as the elevator to space was built on Earth, his promotion mission was considered complete.
If possible, he certainly hoped that they could accomplish this magnificent super project on their own instead of relying on their ancestor.
Although Lu Zhou had sacrificed endless hours, this did not mean that his time was worthless.
Even so, thinking about it carefully, the Pan-Asian Corporation won big.
After all, the most critical material problem was solved for them.
The rest should be easy, right?
