Chapter 79: Chapter 79 Observatory
The machine right in front of us is the legendary industrial mother machine, the core of industry.
The mother machine is used to manufacture other machines and machine tools, typically used to produce various high-precision machine tools; it is of paramount importance for restarting civilization.
However, this equipment is also sealed and under normal circumstances, it is not activated.
The next machine over is a heavy metal 3D printer, also the only currently functioning super-sized machine; it can be used to produce some not too complex parts.
3D printing is a rapid prototyping technology that, based on digital model files, uses powder-like metal or ceramics and other bondable materials to construct objects by printing layer by layer.
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That is to say, once the equipment is designed on the computer, it will automatically churn out various parts that can be assembled into a completed product.
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“Hey, you can look but don’t touch, and definitely don’t mess with anything. If you break it, you can’t afford to compensate!”
One of the staff members, seeing Zhang Yuan looking around curiously, hurriedly issued a warning.
They were not fond of visitors like Zhang Yuan.
Flying around in this place, if something really got bumped into,
although it wouldn’t be a big deal, as the industrial area’s safety protections were very well established, they still found it quite annoying.
Senior Brother Zhao joked, “Old Li, what’s with you? This is my junior brother, show some respect!”
“Hello, Senior Brother Li,” Zhang Yuan promptly greeted.
Every spot in this production area is an important position, dense with knowledge, technology, and talent, with the minimum qualification being a PhD, so calling someone ‘senior brother’ is nothing out of the ordinary.
Old Li, who wouldn’t hit a smiling face, gave Zhang Yuan a look and said, “These are all top-notch toys. If you want to study them, you can ask me, just don’t sneak in here and mess things up on your own!”
“Some foreign interns actually sneaked into the warehouse and almost started the industrial mother machine. That really enraged me.”
Senior Brother Zhao asked with a smile, “And then what happened?”
Senior Brother Li snorted, “I was going to call the police and have them put into forced hibernation, but seeing them cry and wail, I went soft and let them go…”
Turning his head, Senior Brother Zhao joked, “Old Li is a soft-hearted guy. If you look pitiful enough and shed tears of pain, maybe he’ll let you use the 3D printer to make a real machine for you. It’s not impossible…”
Zhang Yuan widened his eyes and pretended for a while, but realized he couldn’t pull off a very pitiable look.
It seems that he couldn’t rely on acting to get by. From now on, he would have to prevail through real ability.
The tour of the entire first-floor factory was almost over; there were still the second, third, fourth floors, and so on, with mineral smelting, light industrial production factories that could be visited later.
Zhang Yuan, not wanting to disturb others at work, promptly left with Senior Brother Zhao…
“After seeing all this, what are your thoughts?” Senior Brother Zhao immediately inquired.
Zhang Yuan sighed, “It’s magnificent! These machines can be said to be the crystallization of countless people’s intelligence, and they’re even more important than our lives!”
“But it’s also quite embarrassing. It feels like having energy with nowhere to use it. The vast majority of machines are idle, and the production lines are scattered.”
Senior Brother Zhao nodded, “Ah, I feel the same way. If we successfully reach our destination and acquire a large amount of resources, then there will be a place for us to shine…”
After the tour, Zhang Yuan had a general understanding of the entire industrial system.
The two of them continued on their way, passing by the Astronomical Observatory, where some astronomers were conducting observations.
With no lighthouses or satellite signals in the universe, one can only determine their location by observing the stars in the sky.
But the entire Milky Way is far from stationary; it is constantly moving and rotating. With space navigation, a tiny deviation can lead to a huge mistake. If the direction is off by just a few microseconds, it could mean having to travel an extra several billion kilometers. Hence, a large amount of calculation and observation are needed for a relatively accurate determination.
An idea struck Zhang Yuan, “According to the date, our spaceship should be in the orbit of Mars by now, right?”
Zhao Qingfeng nodded, “About right, it’s been over a month, want to go in and take a look?”
Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but marvel at the grandeur of ‘Earth Era’. Being inside, one could feel completely unaware of being in the universe.
There was always a strange illusion that one was still living on Earth.
That was actually a good thing. If one were constantly reminded that they were in the universe surrounded by deadly dangers, the psychological pressure would sharply increase. If depression were to spread on a large scale, it would be troublesome.
In Mars orbit, the communication delay with Earth is about 4 minutes.
Messages sent out take 4 minutes to reach Earth, and replies from Earth take another 4 minutes, so one round of communication takes a total of 8 minutes.
When Zhang Yuan communicated with Earth, he usually used the form of short videos.
“Let’s go into the Observatory.”
Zhang Yuan cautiously flew up to the Astronomical Observatory.
A sparkling starry sky was right above their heads. Here, one could make the closest contact with the grand universe.
Inside the Observatory it was very quiet, or rather, every place in the zero-gravity area was quiet. It was just that sometimes, a rustling sound could be heard through the earphones.
Under the light of the age-old stars, witnessing the splendor of the entire Milky Way gave rise to a sense of unique tranquility.
This kind of tranquility could immerse a restless soul.
Observing Earth with the naked eye, one would find that Earth had become a very ordinary little star, reflecting a pale blue light at a certain angle from the Sun.
From some points of view, it was somewhat similar to Sirius.
Mars, about 60 million kilometers from the spacecraft, appeared slightly larger than Earth, its reflected sunlight displaying a shade of orange.
Through the telescope, one could even see the Space City ‘Mars 3’ hovering above Mars!
‘Mars 3’, once the prototype of the ‘Earth Era’ spacecraft, is a movable space city.
Its volume is only a third of the Earth Era, but for the technicians inside, it is sufficiently spacious.
Future space cities will all be designed with the concept of being ‘movable’ in mind.
Looking at the entire Solar System, one realizes how commonplace the planet Mars is; it doesn’t hold much value for development from humanity’s current perspective.
From the angle of space industry, Mars can’t compare to the Moon. The Moon is close enough to Earth, convenient for travel, with low gravity, no atmosphere, and abundant resources.
From the perspective of exploitable resources, Mars falls short when compared to Jupiter’s moon and Saturn’s moon Titan.
Nearby Jupiter’s moon and Titan, there are large gaseous planets, naturally providing infinite repositories of nuclear fuel.
Moreover, Titan is rich in hydrocarbons; if we could exploit this moon, it would be like having a vast oil supply. A large amount of easily extractable organic matter still holds significant value.