Free Web NovelChapter 1454: Chapter 688: Visiting Lunar Base Vehicles
The meeting for the special experiment had concluded, and those who knew about it focused their attention on the experiment, which garnered significant interest.
Meanwhile, the theoretical team also needed to submit a danger assessment report.
This was something Zhao Yi and the others had not anticipated.
However, upon further consideration, it was only logical, because the experiment would be costly. Even without losing a spaceship, the experiment would consume over a hundred million yuan. If a spaceship were to be damaged, the cost would approach ten billion yuan.
Moreover, the constant emphasis on the possible dangers of the experiment by the theoretical team had made the senior leadership take it very seriously, as they hope to know the probability of extremely dangerous situations occurring.
Zhao Yi, Qiu Chengwen, Edward Witten, and Zhang Qican had rested for a night, then came to the workplace together the next day to start working on the danger assessment report for the experiment.
In fact, their job was to study "what could happen with the experiment."
"The appearance of an extremely dangerous situation mainly reflects on the success of the experiment," ƒгeewёbnovel.com
"If the experiment is successful, we’ll know about a region where not even space exists. This region, being under external pressure, could result in anything happening."
"However, in reality, since the anti-gravity barrier hinders it, even if a huge explosion occurred, the energy released at that moment would be absorbed, leaving the remaining energy in space, which would hardly pose a significant threat."
Zhao Yi made a simple summary and then said, "So what we need to do is analyze what could potentially happen if the experiment succeeds."
This problem was easy to solve.
Assuming the experiment succeeded, the existence of Voidon was certain, and the group quickly summarized several key points.
Qiu Chengwen was the first to speak up, "If a strong compressive force occurs, it could cause the equipment inside to explode, leading to an explosion of the entire spaceship."
"It’s not just the compressive force that could pose a danger; a violent nuclear fusion reaction could also occur."
"Your last experiment involved transmitting compressed space to another end’s vacuum environment, which led to particle stripping and nuclear fusion. Now the space at one end is not compressed, but as there is no space at the other end, particle stripping could still occur, potentially triggering an even more violent nuclear fusion explosion."
This was a significant risk point.
Zhang Qican said, "Or perhaps nothing will happen at all. Our understanding of Voidon is still very limited, and even if we create a region where no space exists, it might just be similar to the conditions at the edge of the universe. I don’t think it’s likely that the universe’s edge would explode due to spatial expansion."
"Another possibility is that nothing will happen. The space link equipment operates normally, only with a slight increase in efficiency, and that’s all."
"But to be honest, I don’t really want to see this result," Zhang Qican said with a shake of his head and a smile, "I believe you all feel the same. Although it would prove that our research direction is not wrong, an experimental conclusion that is exactly as imagined can only provide a theoretical direction."
The three others felt the same way.
Using the experimental method to confirm the correct research direction was of course a good outcome, but they were more eager to see ’anomalies.’
It is when anomalies exist that it’s possible to confirm the presence of unknown elements, making it very worthy of further research and exploration.
Qiu Chengwen and Zhang Qican discussed all the possibilities one by one.
Then, together, they evaluated the probability of extreme danger occurring and found that the highest probability was only 0.01 percent.
This was an assessed value calculated from inductive mathematical statistics.
"If the experiment was conducted on the ground, the probability of extreme danger would not exceed 0.01 percent, but the probability significantly decreases for space experiments far away from Earth,"
"Therefore, conducting the experiment in space means we have nothing to worry about."
Even conducting an experiment in space involves the possibility of extreme danger, but reality is governed by probability.
Just like some asteroids might collide with Earth, their probability might also be lower than 0.10 percent, or even smaller.
Such a probability can practically be ignored. It’s not feasible to develop significant countermeasures for such risky probabilities or to halt an important scientific study.
Once everyone had reached an agreement, they submitted the report.
Upon reviewing the report, the senior leadership was reassured.
With such a minute probability, it was indeed negligible, and they could start looking forward to the results of the experiment.
After the hazard assessment report was approved, the Aerospace Bureau quickly initiated negotiations with Yixing Company over the Mars-1 spaceship, and both sides soon agreed on a price.
The final sale price was set at 9.3 billion yuan.
The Aerospace Bureau could totally accept this price because they felt that anything below 10 billion yuan was acceptable. Yixing Company, of course, could also accept it, as the Mars-1 spaceship had great performance, completing the Mars exploration mission and demonstrating the spaceship’s stability and safety.
The latter was worth tens of billions of yuan.
If the spaceship were sold to a foreign country, the transaction price would not be less than 20 billion yuan. However, given the technical precision of Mars-1, it could not possibly be allowed to be sold abroad, and the only buyer would be the Aerospace Bureau, thus a 20 billion yuan price was out of the question.
Furthermore, Yixing Company had little use for keeping the Mars-1 spaceship. Their Lunar Base plan did not require the Mars-1 spaceship, and what they needed was a new type of functional spaceship, not one for planetary exploration, making the Mars-1 spaceship redundant.
It was not just about not needing it, but also the ongoing high maintenance costs of keeping it.
Therefore, selling Mars-1 to the Aerospace Bureau was the best option.
The 9.3 billion yuan deal was enough to give Yixing Company a substantial profit.
Although the Mars-1 spaceship was sold to the Aerospace Bureau, it remained at the launch base belonging to Yixing Company. The theoretical team and individuals from the Z-wave group and Space Information Technology were to go there to modify the Mars-1 spaceship together.
Zhao Yi, Qiu Chengwen, Edward Witten, and others went to the launch site of Yixing Company. Calling it a launch site, in fact, was just the place where Yixing’s spacecraft and equipment were stationed. The compressed materials used by many companies and the small spacecraft that had been constructed were often temporarily stored here.
Since some members of the technical team had not yet arrived, they took the opportunity to look over the materials and equipment prepared for the Lunar Base plan, including the most important piece, the lunar rover.
The lunar rover had already been built and was stationed at the launch site.
Zhao Yi met the astronauts Deng Jian and Zhang Wenhua, who were assigned to the Lunar Base mission.
At just thirty-five, Deng Jian was on the younger side among astronauts. He had graduated from one of the country’s top military academies and held a master’s degree in ground-based mechanics.
After graduation, Deng Jian worked for the military. When he reached a certain age, he took part in the selection process for astronauts and began his spaceflight training.
However, he had not undergone training for long when the Aerospace Bureau struck an agreement with Yixing, and he joined the company.
Among the astronauts at Yixing, Deng Jian was younger and his training performance wasn’t the best, but due to his research in ground armored vehicles and his profound mastery in the field of mechanics, the Lunar Base plan reached out to him directly.
When Deng Jian heard the description of the mission, he excitedly agreed.
What he most hoped for was to become a real astronaut and take part in major space exploration missions.
Now, the opportunity had come.
In his astronaut training, his performance may not have been the best, but his current job was not just about astronaut training. It was to drive the lunar rover on the Moon, helping to find the most suitable location to establish the Lunar Base.
This job was perfect for him.
Imagine it.
In the future, once the Lunar Base was built, the selection of its location would bring Deng Jian’s name to mind. He felt extremely excited and full of anticipation.
Of course, there were still challenges.
The mission required the astronauts to live on the Moon for a considerable length of time, perhaps a month, two months, or maybe even longer.
Two people, one vehicle, driving alone on the moon, carefully considered, it was indeed quite stressful.
The other astronaut was Zhang Wenhua, who, though he had not experienced any significant missions, was a frequent flyer on ’anti-gravity spacecraft’.
He had more experience than Deng Jian, and his training performance was somewhat better.
Therefore, Zhang Wenhua was also the team leader.
Zhao Yi had met Zhang Wenhua and Deng Jian before, but this was the first time he was delegating tasks. He asked directly, "You should know the mission this time, right? Any regrets now? It’s not too late to reconsider. We can select someone else."
"Don’t even think about it!"
Deng Jian became anxious immediately, "We have already agreed it’s us, we will do it."
Zhang Wenhua also said, "Academician Zhao, we have no regrets! We are already prepared and just waiting for the command to depart."
Zhao Yi laughed, "No need to be so formal, I was just joking."
"This mission is indeed significant, but you don’t need to worry. If there are any problems midway, we can have the Aerospace Bureau send support. They have already built a spacecraft specifically for support that can directly shuttle through space to the Moon."
"By now, you should be quite familiar with the lunar rover, right? Come, help us understand it better."
Zhao Yi came to look at the lunar rover.
Although he had designed the lunar rover himself, this was the first time he had seen the actual product. Additionally, some of the operational details had been designed by other personnel, so he was not very familiar with them.
Zhang Wenhua and Deng Jian were there mainly to learn how to operate the lunar rover.
They had to not only familiarize themselves with the operation methods, but also have an all-round understanding of the lunar rover. In case of an unexpected failure, they needed to know where issues were most likely to occur in order to repair them promptly, preventing minor problems from affecting the mission.
Zhang Wenhua and Deng Jian then began introducing the lunar rover to the group.
The lunar rover was fully functional and could be regarded as a mobile home on the Moon, equipped with its own oxygen production and recycling systems to support astronauts for a long duration.
The rover had many automated control systems, which amazed Edward Witten and Qiu Chengwen. They had been engaged in theoretical research for a long time and had never come into contact with such advanced machinery before.
Edward Witten kept exclaiming, "This vehicle is just so high-end."
"Truly worthy of being the Lunar Base rover, capable of supporting life on the Moon and even achieving timely communication with Earth."
"It even has an intelligent control system; you practically don’t have to do anything."
Zhao Yi just smiled after hearing this.
In fact, the core technology of the lunar rover mainly revolved around two points: solar energy power transmission technology and compressed materials. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Compressed materials ensured the protective capabilities of the lunar rover, so that the astronauts and internal equipment would not be disturbed by external temperatures and radiation.
Solar energy transmission technology was the power source for the lunar rover.
Once the material issue was resolved and the energy source was secured, nothing else was a problem.
