Chapter 525: Trapped in a Cocoon
The second solar storm is coming.
The Homo sapiens space station relied on the powerful magnetic field shield and lead plate composite layer to withstand the baptism of the solar storm.
The damage to components caused by the solar storm more than a week ago has now been repaired.
That’s right, the repair is complete.
Although the second solar storm caused damage to some components again, it was no big deal for the Homo sapiens space station.
After all, Sapiens also attaches great importance to the triple redundant design of the spacecraft.
In addition, there are three special maintenance cabins inside the Homo sapiens space station. These maintenance cabins use biosynthesis technology and can synthesize many components.
From the very beginning, modularization, quick repairs, and self-production of parts were planned in the design of the Homo sapiens space station.
The designs of various parts are specially prepared to facilitate rapid production in outer space.
In addition, some parts of the Homo sapiens space station have self-repair capabilities.
With heavy protection, self-repair, and self-produced parts, the Homo sapiens space station can basically rest easy, and some damaged parts were repaired in less than a few days.
And the other side.
The second X2-class solar storm is approaching.
This has put the already precarious new international space station into an even more dangerous situation.
As time goes by, there is more and more satellite debris and fragments in low-Earth orbit.
This also means that the risk of traffic accidents in space travel between the Earth and low-Earth orbit is becoming increasingly greater.
What is even more terrifying is that the Starlink satellites themselves have very poor ability to adjust their orbits. In the face of dense debris clouds, they can basically only avoid being hit on the first day.
Three days have passed since the rescue spacecraft accident, and by then , 376 Starlink satellites and 21 other satellites have been destroyed in low-Earth orbit.
These satellites in turn spew out more debris and fragments.
If the debris is larger than 10 centimeters in diameter, it can still be monitored.
The problem is that many of the fragments are small fragments with a diameter of several centimeters or even millimeters.
For a spacecraft, the consequences of being hit by debris with a diameter of tens of centimeters and by debris with a diameter of a few millimeters are actually similar.
There are so many small fragments that they form a lot of debris clouds, and it is difficult to fully lock them. This is simply a spacecraft assassin, and it is impossible to defend against it.
Be it the management of the Earth Association or the space agencies of each member, everyone was paralyzed by the debris running everywhere in low-Earth orbit.
What is self-defeating?
This is like tying yourself up in knots.
Musk is at NASA headquarters at this time.
Bill, who had already reached the limit of his patience, said directly: "Your company's Starlink satellites must be brought down into the atmosphere as soon as possible. They cannot remain in low-Earth orbit."
"Director Bill, you have no say, and I can't do anything about it either." Musk spread his hands.
“……”Bill was very angry. He certainly knew the reason why Musk was so confident was simply because the Pentagon supported him behind the scenes.
Bill resisted the urge to roar, and asked through gritted teeth, "What's the use of Starlink satellites now? Is the Pentagon still so naive? Look at what's going on this time ! Open your eyes and take a look!"
Sean, head of the Pentagon's Space Equipment Office, looked a little embarrassed.
The Pentagon really miscalculated this time.
Originally, the Pentagon's plan for the Starlink satellite system was to destroy the death ray satellites deployed by Sapiens in low-Earth orbit through suicide collisions at critical moments.
However, in this accident, the performance of the Starlink satellite was simply rubbish.
The hundreds of death light satellites deployed by Sapiens in low-Earth orbit were not affected at all.
The Pentagon discovered that the maneuverability of these death ray satellites is so strong that they generate electricity through their own cobalt rods and use electrojet thrusters to constantly adjust their orbital trajectories.
In addition, the outer shell of the death ray satellite has very strong protective capabilities, and small fragments cannot pose any threat to the death ray satellite at all.
In fact, other satellites of the Sapiens company have very good protection and maneuverability, because these satellites were positioned as "quasi-military satellites" from the beginning.
When Li Qingye was developing the aerospace industry at the Homo Sapiens Corporation, he set the tone and was always on guard against suicide attacks in America.
The situation at this time was already within Li Qingye's expectations.
The Pentagon's dark ideas came to naught.
Not only did it fail to threaten the satellites of Sapiens, but it also destroyed 21 professional satellites of the Free World. Together with the more than 300 satellites lost by SpaceX, a total of nearly 400 satellites were scrapped, and a large amount of debris was created.
Bill stared at Sean and said, "What do you think, Pentagon? If you still insist on keeping Starlink satellites running, I will resign tomorrow."
"Don't be angry, Director Bill, the situation is not that serious yet." Sean comforted.
"I'm quitting right now." Bill had only one thought in his mind: I'm tired! I want to be destroyed! I don't want to do this anymore!
"Don't be impulsive! NASA still needs you, we can discuss it."
Bill couldn't help but burst out cursing: "Shit! What are you discussing? Doesn't your Space Equipment Office know the current situation? If we don't destroy the remaining Starlink satellites, the scale of space junk will continue to grow. By then, we will be completely trapped on Earth, and you can only watch as Sapiens controls the moon and Mars."
Sean certainly knew something about the situation, but he and a group of Pentagon executives were just hoping for the best.
Musk, who was standing aside, also had a conflicted look on his face.
He has very complicated feelings about Starlink satellites. On the one hand, he believes that the current Starlink satellites are inappropriate and have posed a serious threat to human exploration of outer space. On the other hand, because of the interests of his own company, he is unwilling to deny the value of the existence of Starlink satellites.
Such are the complex emotions that come with his identity.
So he chose to remain silent at this time.
As the head of NASA, Bill is more inclined towards the aerospace industry itself and will not be too concerned about the losses of the space exploration company.
In short, the three people have somewhat different positions, which leads to huge disagreements on whether to continue to retain Starlink satellites.
As for the issue of astronauts on the new international space station, Bill, Sean, and Musk had no intention of discussing it because it was not something they needed to worry about.
Even if those astronauts died, it would not have any impact on the three of them.
Their focus now is actually on the space debris caused by Starlink satellites, which are blocking the low-Earth orbit channel.
Sean thought for a while, then turned to Musk and asked, "Elon, can we raise the operating altitude of the Starlink satellites to more than 700 kilometers? This way, the probability of being hit will be much lower."
"Is that so?" Musk thought for a moment: "Doing so will reduce the life of Starlink satellites by 30-50%. Is that acceptable to the Pentagon?"
Sean nodded helplessly: "Okay."
Bill's face was still as dark as the bottom of a pot: "Even so, the remaining space junk is a big problem."
But Sean was prepared: "Hasn't the space tower project on Jeju Island recently entered the trial operation stage? Let them use a small launch vehicle to pull down the larger satellite debris in low-Earth orbit into the atmosphere for destruction."
Although Bill was not happy with the Pentagon's intervention, he had no choice but to give it a try.
