Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 303 - Chapter 303 Chapter 302 Gravitational Propulsion

Chapter 303: Chapter 302: Gravitational Propulsion Chapter 303: Chapter 302: Gravitational Propulsion “Let’s just let me explain,” Li Zhendong turned his head, took over the microphone, and began in a serious tone to the reporters, “What are cosmic strings? They’re extremely thin and heavy unified fields that were born in the very moment when the universe was created, marking linear defects during phase transitions!”

Many reporters immediately turned on their recorders, pretending to be very serious.

“There are two main types of these strings, one is the straight strings that traverse the universe, and the other is various sizes of loop strings. The collection of all strings forms a network that spreads throughout the universe.”

Theoretically, the distribution of cosmic strings in the universe is akin to a human neural network, from as small as the Milky Way to as large as the Virgo Cluster, the Laniakea Supercluster, and even the entire observable universe, such network structures exist.

A picture appeared on the screen, displaying the observable universe spanning 96 billion light years.

This image had not undergone any artistic processing, and each light spot represented a galaxy. From a certain perspective, the distribution of these galaxies was strikingly similar to a neural network.

The reason the universe formed into a network system, rather than having all matter evenly spread out, was due to cosmic strings.

“Next up, is how to utilize cosmic strings for propulsion…”

When cosmic strings were first born, they oscillated at speeds close to that of light, emitting vast gravitational radiation. However, regardless of the immense energy, over billions of years, it was still consumed in the form of gravitational radiation.

Yet, some strings whose energy had not been entirely expended hid in space due to specific reasons, making truly usable strings quite scarce.

It’s difficult for people to directly observe these strings since they are one-dimensional objects, having length but no width or height.

“…Cosmic strings have tremendous elasticity–if a string was tied to the Earth, it could accelerate the Earth to 3000 km/h in just one second!”

Upon hearing this, a female reporter curiously asked, “Professor Li, your statement seems a bit odd… Aren’t cosmic strings not involved in electromagnetic interaction? How could they be tied to the Earth?”

“Even if it were possible to tie it to Earth, with such a large force, wouldn’t the cosmic string break? Wouldn’t even the strong interaction be unable to withstand such force? And what are they made of?”

Under the watchful eyes of everyone and becoming the center of attention, Li Zhendong couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved, but he still pretended to be serious, “I’m just making a comparison to help you understand its properties.”

“Being one-dimensional, it indeed does not participate in electromagnetic interactions, and we wouldn’t be able to detect it even if it were right beside us. It’s like neutrinos that can pass through our bodies without any obstruction.”

“So, how do we use it for propulsion? It’s not the tension; the answer is…”

“Gravity!”

“But usually, we don’t seem to feel its gravitational pull. What to do? I just mentioned that it represents a one-dimensional topological defect, and we can make use of these topological defects.”

“Professor Li, what is a topological defect?”

“Simply put, it is a defect caused by topological effects. In the homotopy sense, defects always exist. For example, in certain systems, there is a certain symmetry group, and once symmetry is broken, it will have corresponding vacuums associated with the broken symmetry.”

“…From one vacuum state to another, there exists a state of transition with extremely low energy, typically referred to academically as a soliton, which is a type of topological defect. Take for example, the magnetic domains in a ferromagnetic system, where the magnetic polarization ‘m’ is well aligned on both ends, but with different directions representing different vacuums…”

Many reporters became noisy, complaining loudly.

So many technical terms, it was utterly impossible to understand, let alone include in a report.

Li Zhendong felt utterly hopeless. He turned his head to look at Zhang Yuan, who was smiling, and couldn’t help but wonder how this guy dealt with reporters.

“Everyone, please be patient. Simply put, it’s possible to use a condensed state method to reactivate the gravitational pull of dormant cosmic strings.”

“As for how it’s done, everyone can refer to the original experiments on graviton screening conducted on Earth. There’s a certain similarity… It involves breaking the state of gravitational equilibrium. Of course, it’s only the gravitational pull of a short cosmic string segment, lasting only a few seconds or minutes.”

He drew a simple image on the screen: a spaceship slowly moving forward with a cosmic string lying ahead. The spaceship suddenly fired a missile, disturbing the dormant state of the cosmic string in front of it, causing it to vibrate slightly and emit a massive gravitational force.

“But this short duration is already enough. Just think, if a massive gravitational force suddenly appeared in front of a moving spaceship, wouldn’t the entire spaceship be drawn towards it?”

“Of course, this gravitational pull would disappear quickly, but the kinetic energy of the spaceship–that is, its speed–would not.”

“Then we can activate further cosmic strings ahead and keep repeating the process. The speed of the spaceship would keep increasing!”

This was a… new propulsion method!

At this point, all the reporters understood.

“Gravitational Propulsion and Interstellar Navigation”

“Letters from the Golden Sun”

“Humans of Captain Star”

In just half a day, after this series of special reports was broadcast, it quickly stirred a great sensation in society. The information about the Golden Sun and gravitational propulsion naturally became a hotly discussed topic.

The somewhat relaxed human enthusiasm suddenly reignited with even greater work zeal!

On the streets and alleys, similar discussions could be heard.

“The Golden Sun’s Captain Star, so far away… almost in another direction. The cosmic string in between is broken, and we probably wouldn’t make a special trip there.”

“For the first use of cosmic strings for long-distance travel, we should select a closer constant star… at least that’s what I think.”

“Meeting the people from the Golden Sun also doesn’t seem too significant.”

Even Kunlun Mountain had to be modified slightly, after all, gravitational propulsion had optimized so much more than the traditional mass propulsion, eliminating the need to load most of the tonnage with fuel. Thus, many of Kunlun Mountain’s fuel depots could be converted into industrial, residential, and agricultural areas.

Previously, fuel accounted for over 70% of the entire mass of the spaceship, but now it only needed to account for 20% of the mass, and even more aggressively, 10% could actually suffice.

This was the superiority of gravitational propulsion!

Of course, gravitational propulsion also had its limitations. Whether accelerating or decelerating, it had to be done near a cosmic string, which considerably reduced the number of stars reachable as not every star had utilizable cosmic strings nearby.

And conventional propulsion methods were still essential. Otherwise, once detached from the cosmic string, wouldn’t the entire spaceship be unable to move?

On another note, devices causing gravitational fluctuations were also urgently under research.

Scientists had already discovered a usable cosmic string near Gliese 581, which was absolutely excellent news!

In other words, everything was ready, only waiting for the east wind of “Kunlun Mountain.”