Chapter 558: Journey (Part 3)
The construction of the Mars base is in full swing.
The other strapped fire starter spacecraft is still in the nuclear explosion propulsion stage.
This spacecraft and the one going to Mars departed from Earth at about the same time, but their destinations were different.
Its destination is Saturn.
As one of the eight planets in the solar system, Saturn is very similar to Jupiter. Both are large gas planets and have a large number of natural satellites.
Previously, the Space Division had established an exploration system at Jupiter, using nuclear explosion propulsion to launch two Spark spacecraft to Jupiter, and building a space station in Jupiter's synchronous orbit, while launching 93 artificial satellites to Jupiter and its affiliated natural satellites.
This time, a bundled Spark spacecraft (five Spark spacecraft bundled together) was launched to Saturn with the purpose of exploring Saturn, especially Saturn's natural satellites.
For example, Thanos’ hometown - Titan.
Titan is the second largest satellite in the solar system, with a diameter larger than Mercury. More importantly, Titan has a dense atmosphere, and its surface atmospheric pressure is about 1.5 times that of the Earth. The core components of Titan's atmosphere are nitrogen and methane.
This planet with low gravity and dense atmosphere makes it easy to land and return to space using a vacuum airship-type landing spacecraft.
Of course, the reason why Sapiens has set its sights on Titan is definitely not because it is easy to ascend and descend, but because Titan has more potential than Mars.
After all, Titan has a dense atmosphere, intense geological activity, liquid oceans and glaciers. Although the temperature is relatively low, the temperature in some volcanic areas is still very suitable for the existence of life.
Why is Sapiens so obsessed with finding extraterrestrial life?
The fundamental reason is the discovery of lunar bacteria, which has enabled the biosynthesis technology of the Copernicus Base on the Moon to make considerable progress. Now it is possible to synthesize some precision components on the moon.
As long as enough extraterrestrial life is collected, Sapiens will be able to develop biosynthetic microorganisms that can adapt to the environment of each planet. The spacecraft can then reduce some unnecessary equipment and directly use most of the payload to carry precision instruments and personnel.
After all, in the future exploration of the universe, if every exploration requires carrying a large amount of supplies, then as the explored planets become farther and farther away from the earth, the company's logistical pressure will become greater and greater.
Only by using local materials, collecting and replenishing along the way can the core function of future spacecraft be achieved.
As the planet with the highest possibility of life in the solar system, Titan has a higher priority than even Mars.
If Mars were not relatively large in size and a rocky planet with a large number of minerals, Homo Sapiens would not have gone to so much trouble to build a base on Mars.
The same goes for Venus.
Sapiens Corporation has built a floating base in the atmosphere of Venus, the Cloud Palace project.
At present, the scale of the Yungong base has become very large. A large number of vacuum airships are pieced together to form a huge floating platform.
Likewise, a strapped-on Spark spacecraft that was recently propelled by a nuclear explosion reached Mars 13 Earth days earlier than expected.
After all, Venus is the planet closest to the Earth. This twin planet of the Earth should also be a vibrant planet if it were not for some unknown reasons.
The bundled spark spacecraft, which had already arrived at Venus, dropped a new batch of supplies onto the upper deck of the Yungong base bit by bit.
The Yungong Base is located in the atmosphere 50 kilometers above the surface of Venus. The atmosphere here is dense. Even at an altitude of 50 kilometers from the surface, the atmospheric pressure is still slightly higher than the sea level pressure on Earth.
The dense atmosphere makes the buoyancy of a vacuum airship amazing.
Similarly, a vacuum airship with a 4 billion cubic meter vacuum chamber has basically no payload at an altitude of 50 kilometers above Earth; however, at an altitude of 50 kilometers above the surface of Venus, the effective buoyancy is as high as hundreds of thousands of tons.
This is also the fundamental reason why the Space Business Division is carrying out the Cloud Palace project on Venus.
Of course, Venus’ dense atmosphere is no pushover. Strong winds are the norm, and sulfuric acid rain often falls. Without adequate protective armor and response measures, it is impossible to withstand the harsh environment of Venus’ atmosphere.
The Venus exploration spacecraft launched by old Lucia that year landed on the surface of Venus, but it died within a few dozen minutes. This shows how harsh the environment on Venus is.
Fortunately, various technologies of Sapiens continue to emerge, giving the space division the confidence to conquer Venus.
15 humanoid robots appeared inside the Yungong base.
Obviously, these robots are remotely controlled via magnetic monopole crystal communicators.
"Bai Xin, start the carbon dioxide collector."
"Roger that, Captain!"
The robot numbered JX-0024 is Stuka, the captain of this shift. He looked at the vacuum carbon ball synthesis cabin that had just been transported from the earth, as well as the task list sent from the headquarters, and quickly arranged various tasks.
Suddenly, there was a noticeable shaking in the cabin.
He was already accustomed to this. When he first started working on Venus with robots, he was very nervous about the frequent vibrations.
Now he is used to it.
This is the normal state of Venus' atmosphere. Even with an automatic balance and stabilization system, the Yungong Base has no way to eliminate such strong winds.
After all, Venus' atmosphere is very dense. At an altitude , typhoon-level winds are the norm.
The total weight of the Yungong base reaches 255,000 tons, but it is still drifting and vibrating due to the strong wind.
Of course, not all of this 255,000 tons was shipped from Earth. 170,000 tons of it was carbon and sulfuric acid extracted from the atmosphere of Venus.
The purpose of refining so much carbon and sulfuric acid is mainly to reserve industrial raw materials and also to serve as counterweight for the Yungong base.
You know, when the Yungong base was first built, its floating speed and vibration intensity were more than ten times more intense than they are now.
It was precisely because of so many counterweights that the Yungong base gradually became stable.
The idea of Sapiens Company is very simple, which is to use the raw materials from the atmosphere and surface of Venus to continuously produce vacuum airships, and then expand the coverage area of the Yungong base until the entire Venus is completely covered.
As long as the atmosphere of Venus can be wrapped up, the so-called strong winds will be defeated.
Sapiens will obtain a large piece of "floating land", and the gravity of Venus is almost the same as that of the Earth. There is no need for a pseudo-gravity system, and humans can live on the surface of Venus for a long time.
That’s right, the first habitable alien planet planned by Sapiens is not Mars or Titan, but Venus.
The Science Division has conducted many simulations and deductions, and they found that gravity is the biggest challenge facing humans in currently exploring the universe.
If the gravity difference is too great, and humans live in this abnormal gravity environment for a long time, their offspring will easily develop irreversible genetic mutations.
By then, humans who have been reproducing on alien planets for a long time will be reproductively isolated from humans on Earth. This is something that the Homo Sapiens Company must guard against in advance.
Therefore, among the other seven planets that can be reached at present, and a number of large natural satellites, Venus, whose gravity is highly similar to that of the Earth, is the only alien planet where humans can live for a long time.
Mars and Titan are only suitable as industrial areas, mining areas, and bases for studying extraterrestrial life.
