Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 393 - 391 Primary Sources

Chapter 393: Chapter 391 Primary Sources

Even so, many people still believed in the natural existence of silicon-based life because humans are not omniscient and omnipotent, and silicon-based life forms were too popular in various science fiction novels—so popular that people desperately wanted to discover them.

Perhaps on some planet, a so-called miracle had been born?

In response to this argument, an enthusiast even wrote a lengthy dissertation to refute this view.

It included points such as silicon’s poor bonding capabilities, indicating that silane silicon could only reach eight and was unstable, making complex substances unlikely; silanes and their derivatives had poor thermal stability and were prone to condensation, which undoubtedly contradicted the high-temperature environments needed by silicon-based life;

Furthermore, the silicon-hydrogen and silicon-silicon bonds were easily destroyed by various protonic solvents, meaning common solvents like water, ammonia, or even hydrogen fluoride could not serve as carriers for silicon-based life, and so on and so forth...

Shu Xiao earnestly said, "Actually, I don’t believe in naturally occurring silicon-based life either; even if it exists, it’s likely man-made. Rather, life forms based on the boron element as a core are more probable! Ah, creating a form of life is truly akin to playing the creator; we are still far from achieving that."

The more humans understood the universe, the more options they could rule out.

Leaving aside this speculation for now, people had high hopes for complex life on this planet.

A grand design was underway, and since they were about to reach their destination anyway, in a few years they would be able to replenish resources, smashing vast amounts of high-performance materials as if money were no object. The Kunlun Mountain had a small centrifuge inside, which could spin at high speeds to simulate high-gravity environments; experience had shown that as long as massive resources were thrown at it, breakthroughs were easily generated.

When Zhang Yuan saw the list of required materials, he was utterly shocked; he involuntarily swallowed as he looked at the formidable scientists before him.

"You’re saying the current budget is already sufficient to build one Yingjun-class Destroyer?"

The scientist, unembarrassed and eager for chaos, grandly claimed, "Captain, exploring high-gravity environments is a frontier that humanity hasn’t yet ventured into. So far, the unexplored areas remaining are not many; what’s left are big fishes that nobody can hook. This is a rare small fish we can chew..."

"After all, no one has any better research direction... even a small fish isn’t bad."

Zhang Yuan nodded slightly, knowing that people are currently better at industries in low-gravity environments. Especially in heavy industries, low gravity is far superior to high-gravity environments.

"Are you suggesting it involves not just creating a few robots but also a whole industrial system operating in a high-gravity environment?"

"Yes, indeed... Although this system, theoretically, can’t compare with a low-gravity environment, there might be special insights that arise? Developing more science is always good."

Zhang Yuan sighed inwardly; the pace of scientific development was terribly slow these days, with little substantial progress over decades or even centuries. As a result, scientists had begun to pick up things they had abandoned before, planning to start over—a process that was actually very painful.

It sounded like creating work for the sake of it, but just like the previously abandoned Biological Chip Technology, if it hadn’t been experimented with, who would have known it had such great potential?

Many things simply couldn’t be conceived through imagination alone; they had to be discovered through practice, and the breakthrough point for the entire civilization might just lie in these abandoned things.

He nodded, "Then okay, for now, I still support this... But this decision will still need to be verified by the Science Conference. It’s just some resources after all, there shouldn’t be any big problems."

The scientist exhaled with relief, "We’ve also applied for two interstellar ramjet engines to be installed on our scientific research spaceship."

Zhang Yuan raised his eyebrows; this guy was truly pushing his luck!

He wasn’t angry, he just looked meaningfully at the other person. If a valid reason could be provided, it wouldn’t be unacceptable, "These are military engines... The rate of good products is very low, often having to manufacture five or six before getting one that passes. These approved products are used for military reserves."

"That’s true... With technological advancements, the cost of ramjet engines will gradually decrease. Why not take this opportunity to test its performance on civilian spaceships? On this planet, ordinary nuclear fusion engines are adequate, but what about planets with higher gravity? Since ramjet engines will eventually be installed on transport ships, it’s better to start sooner than later."

"Is that so..." Zhang Yuan frowned and pondered. This young scientist really had a way with words.

...

Thus, the three years of preparation quickly passed, and the Kunlun Mountain Fleet had been steadily approaching the destination.

Following the consistent conservative policy to strictly ensure the safety of the mother ship, people chose to land on an outer planet similar to Pluto in the Solar System as their landing point.

In this way, should there dwell a powerful civilization, the entire fleet could interact with them at ease or, at worst, leave directly without creating direct conflict.

Moreover, planets without an atmosphere are usually more suitable for mining.

The observatory was always the busiest area. Scientists were closely monitoring the specific movements of "Tai Pu Star" after the spaceship picked a landing spot.

The first artificial satellite had also been launched in advance.

Yes, this potentially habitable Super Earth had officially been named "Tai Pu Star," not just given a code as usual.

It had three satellites; one had a mass 88% that of the Moon and was approximately 360,000 kilometers from Tai Pu Star.

Another was smaller, with a mass of 7.5% of the Moon’s.

The last one, a large meteorite with a diameter of twenty kilometers, wasn’t truly considered a satellite, orbiting in a distant circle with no imminent risk of collision.

Tai Pu Star had a much larger mass than Earth and possessed multiple satellites, akin to Jupiter and Saturn in the Solar System, which had at least seventy to eighty satellites. The small Mars also hosted two natural satellites. As long as the mass difference between these satellites and the orbiting planet was considerable, it would not result in what’s called "Three Body Motion."

After several days of observation, scientists did not spot any traces of artificial satellites above the atmosphere of "Tai Pu Star."

This news allowed all scientists to breathe a sigh of relief yet also feel slightly disappointed, unclear about their exact feelings.

"Absence of artificial satellites doesn’t necessarily mean there is no intelligent civilization because the gravity and atmospheric pressure on this planet are too high, making satellite launches extremely difficult. Even we rely on interstellar ramjet engine technology to barely manage spaceflight activities."

"That makes sense... Our detection satellite should be entering orbit soon, right?"

"Yes, it will soon transmit back the first-hand data!"

Everyone was immensely curious about the first batch of data. Despite it being time to leave work, people still waited quietly in front of the large screen in the observatory.