Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 888 - 133 Discussion

Chapter 888: Chapter 133 Discussion

Indeed, in the second half of the 20th century, NASA proposed the concept of a "nuclear rocket," which was essentially "using a reactor to directly heat the propellant" and "ionizing the spent fuel after reaction to use it as propellant."

It’s just that this concept never found much opportunity for application.

Mainly because...

The pollution is terrifying.

Spent fuel is something that can kill. Unlike most radioactive elements after a nuclear explosion that react instantly and cleanly, spent fuel can leave toxic residues for millennia.

Even if it’s not directly expelling spent fuel, just expelling propellant directly through the reactor is quite scary enough.

However, if not using the reactor to directly heat the propellant but indirectly heating it, then the thrust-to-weight ratio of the reactor compared to chemical rockets holds no advantage.

But this is not a problem at all for "Argon."

This alien spacecraft has been navigating through deep space, between two stars, over several light-years, so no one would report its excessive radiation emissions.

In fact, the initial envisioned application scenario for nuclear rockets was "launched outside of Earth." On the Moon or space stations far from Earth.

The space explorers of that era held a rather blind optimism about humanity’s future. They believed that humanity was only a short distance away from reaching space, so they even conceptualized rockets that "could only be used in space."

After pondering for a moment, Xiang Shan mused, "Could we trace the origin of ’Argon’ based on these high-radiation trails if it indeed used spent fuel as a propellant?"

After thinking carefully, Xiang Shan felt that this might actually work. Spent fuel consists of relatively massive radioactive elements, which would indeed be effective if expelled.

David continued sipping his Coke: "Not necessarily, maybe they just tossed it away. Moreover, even if they really used that stuff as propellant, I’d say your idea is good, but with the radiation dose from the propellant, even the most sophisticated human astronomical telescopes won’t be able to see it."

When discussing "Earth’s environment," spent fuel propellant is considered "something with terrifying radiation." But when discussing the "Universe," spent fuel’s radiation doesn’t count for much.

The Universe is simply too vast.

"There’s also a small question," Xiang Shan continued to ponder: "Why would they cast uranium-235 with other stuff into a single block?"

"For preservation perhaps."

"I know it’s for preservation, but..." Xiang Shan gestured with his hands, "our Earth methods for preservation, right, whether mixing it into ceramics or other alloys..."

David said, "I have to correct you, although the specific identification results haven’t come out yet, based on that radiation level, the treasures we found are just ordinary enriched uranium, not high-enriched for sure, mixed with other materials. And looking at the volume, the purity can’t be that high, otherwise, the radiation would be much more than just this..."

Xiang Shan checked the formulas, did some mental calculations, and nodded: "Right... So why make it into a whole block, why not partition and store it in batches? What if it accidentally exceeds the critical volume?"

"Not necessarily?" David said. "If I were to guess, the tests will probably show that the large stone has an extremely uneven element distribution, with uranium clumped together, and between the uranium blocks are neutron absorption materials like graphite or lead."

"Then, the difference in strength and durability between neutron absorption materials and enriched uranium would be significant enough for the aliens to separate them easily by some means. Perhaps in our perception, it’s just a block of stone-like object, but from the aliens’ perspective, it’s like embedding fuel blocks in sand made of neutron absorption materials."

"Then why not just use sand? Or something like a fixed frame."

David shrugged, "I don’t know either. Maybe some alien processing technology allows them to easily separate the fuel blocks, which is why their concept differs from that of us Earthlings, or perhaps it’s merely a cultural or cognitive difference."

Xiang Shan mused, "Hmm... By the way, do you think ’Argon’ doesn’t have the capability to carry humans?"

David nodded, "If it was using technology similar to Earth’s, the core of ’Argon’ couldn’t possibly accommodate a complete sanitation system unless those aliens were much smaller than humans—not monkeys, but something of rat size. However, you know, right, if they’re much smaller than humans, the number of neurons that can be packed into the brain would be very limited... Or should I say ’neuron-like structures’? In any case, the basic units of the thinking organ are too few, making it difficult to form complex structures. Overly simple structures would limit the development of intelligence."

Xiang Shan said, "But I think ’the ingenuity of structure’ should outweigh ’the absolute number of neurons’—what about hibernation?"

"Are you kidding? The builders of ’Argon’ have a technological level similar to humanity, even if their spacecraft is from Proxima Centauri, it would take hundreds or thousands of years. Even if this alien species is inherently good at feigning death and hibernation, they couldn’t spend a time in a state of suspended animation that is thousands of times longer than their normal lifespan. If aided by machines, they couldn’t build a hibernation device capable of lasting thousands of years."

"So, those fuel block reserves must largely be utilized by machines, correct?"

Since there are no humans inside ’Argon,’ there must be some entities capable of manipulating and utilizing resources, including fuel blocks.

Then it must surely be robots.

"If they couldn’t create a hibernation device that lasts for thousands of years, then they certainly couldn’t create robots that endure for thousands of years, meaning they must require constant updating." Xiang Shan thought deeply: "One generation of robots continues to create the next generation, repeating until they reach Earth."

David nodded, "Mhm, that’s probably about right. But given what you said... A person with a small supply, coming out of a hibernation pod every hundred years, undergoing recovery training, updating the parts of the hibernation pod, then going back to sleep... No, that area would still be a bit too small."

Xiang Shan pondered, "So in such a small space, there must be complete production equipment... But there’s another issue, how is the technical data for manufacturing those parts stored? Hard disk degradation is quite a problem. Relying on constantly updating storage devices? What kind of material recycling and reuse technology could this develop into? And, being able to ensure that after countless replications there’s still no degradation..."

Xiang Shan couldn’t figure this issue out.

Of course, very soon, the answer presented itself to him in an unexpected yet logical manner.

Humans discovered many... carbon crystal plates encased in copper alloy in the core layer of Argon.