The Rise Of Space Technology

409 Capturing Asteroids 2

“It’s really a pity. This asteroid contains 40% iron, 30% copper, and more than 70% of them are metal elements. It can be said to be a very valuable asteroid.”

“Iron is still relatively cheap, and copper is very valuable. Now the price of a ton of copper is more than 40,000 yuan, and 30% of these are copper quality and more than 300 million tons. After all, this is almost 100 million tons of copper. This is worth several trillions!”

“hu~hu~”

“I finally understand why the boss has to pay such a huge price to let us come to the asteroid belt to mine asteroids. This trip is at least thousands or trillions!”

Mao Jun made a very simple calculation, and suddenly even his breathing changed, his eyes were red, and the money came too quickly.

“I’ll go, right? Is such an asteroid worth trillions?”

When the others heard it, they didn’t believe it and said quickly.

“This is a simple calculation. Of course, this is a little inaccurate, because these copper and iron are not smelted, but even if they are not smelted, the value is broken, this asteroid can still be worth hundreds of billions, right?”

Mao Jun looked at the players around him and said.

“Mao Jun said it well!”

“The wealth of the interstellar universe is not comparable to that on Earth. Asteroids like the one in front of us are very numerous and very common in this asteroid belt.”

“There are countless asteroids like this in the asteroid belt.”

“According to the spectral image analysis data we have now, the planets and meteorites in the asteroid belt can be roughly divided into three types. More than 60% of all asteroids are carbon-rich C-type asteroids.”

“The number of S-type asteroids containing silicon accounts for about 25%. The spectrum shows that their surfaces contain silicates and some metals, but the composition of carbonaceous compounds is not obvious, which indicates that they are significantly different from the composition of the original solar system. The result of differentiation may be due to the melting mechanism of the early solar system.”

“The total number of M-type asteroids is about 15%. Their spectra contain iron-nickel-like spectral lines, which are white or slightly red, and have no absorption line characteristics. M-type asteroids are supposed to be composed of The core is formed by a destructive impact with iron-nickel as the main matrix.”

Xia Zhigang, who was on the side, also continued to conduct popular science for everyone, explaining the knowledge related to asteroids.

Based on the spectral information detected by various instruments, scientists have a rough estimate of the structure of planets and meteorites in the entire asteroid belt. This is the method of science, and it is clear to you thousands of miles away.

“What really matters to us is the least number of M-type asteroids. These asteroids contain a large amount of metal resources. According to spectral detection, most asteroids are composed of silicon elements, which can only be used for Make solar panels and things like that.”

“This asteroid is rich in more than 70% of metal elements. It is a typical M-type asteroid. What is even more rare is that its metal content is very high. If it can be dragged back to the earth, it is absolutely worthless. ”

“It’s just that its mass is too large, we can’t drag it, but it doesn’t matter. I have saved its relevant information in the computer. When we have a more powerful spacecraft, we can directly come and haul it back. .”

Xia Zhigang smiled and said: “If you want to start a business in the future, you can definitely try this area, form a team to mine asteroids, come to the asteroid belt to mine asteroids, and you can come here for a night. Get rich.”

“Come on~”

“Do you know how much our Starcatcher spacecraft is worth?”

When Shi Kai heard this, he immediately laughed.

“Even if our company calculates the cost price, it costs the company tens of billions. If it is sold to the outside world, if there are not hundreds of billions, the company will never sell.”

“For such a huge amount, let alone us, even those big capitalists may not be able to play it.”

“It can’t be said that the Star Catcher is very large. It can catch asteroids up to 300 million tons at one time. In the future, our company may launch a smaller spacecraft.”

“For example, a spacecraft that can capture tens of millions of tons and millions of tons of asteroids will definitely be much cheaper to sell.”

“Forget it, I still like to work for my boss. It’s not easy to be a boss. What’s more, my current income is enough for me to live a decent life.”

“Haha, I thought so too.”

Everyone was discussing happily.

Calculating the mass, volume, main elements, etc. of celestial bodies, this is a job that almost every student majoring in astronomy can easily and competently do, but for ordinary people, it is completely confusing, and they do not know that they are separated by thousands of kilometers. Why can the distance of the star be able to calculate the mass of the star and so on. ..

This is also the reason why scientists have to be brought on the asterisk, and professional things still need professional talents to complete.

“Go ahead and continue to release detection satellites around!”

The Star Catcher spacecraft continued to fly in the void. At this time, the speed was quite slow, only more than 20 kilometers per second. The detection satellites on the spacecraft were spread out in all directions at no cost.

Although the asteroid belt is said to be an asteroid belt and has countless asteroids, it is distributed in such a vast area. When you are really in it, you will still feel that the asteroid belt is very empty.

Two days have passed since the first asteroid was discovered, and neither the detection radar nor the satellite has found the second asteroid. The crowd was very depressed until the third day.

“DiDi, DiDi, discover asteroids, discover asteroids.”

The entire spaceship was awakened by the alarm sound of the system, and they quickly connected to the virtual machine one by one.

“Haha, we have almost entered the off-center position of the asteroid belt now, the front is the edge position, and now dozens of asteroids have been discovered all at once.”

The information of dozens of asteroids in my mind came into my mind, how far away from the spacecraft, in which direction, etc., the people on the spacecraft couldn’t help laughing happily.

“Xia Zhigang, Ouyang Fei

“Don’t worry, I will definitely find the most suitable asteroid to bring back.”

Xia Zhigang grinned, and began to be half with Ouyang Fei. Using a computer, he began to analyze these asteroids, calculating their mass, volume, direction, distance, speed, composition elements, and so on.

“Om, hum, alarm, alarm, there is an asteroid’s trajectory that is about to coincide with the spacecraft’s trajectory, please deal with it immediately.”

At this moment, the warning sound from the spaceship was loud, and everyone’s face became serious when they heard it. Xia Zhigang and Ouyang Fei quickly put down their work and started the computer-related information.

“I rub it, I was shocked, I thought it was a big asteroid, but at most it can only be regarded as a bigger rock.”

After calculating the results, Xia Zhigang breathed a sigh of relief. According to the calculation results, this is an asteroid with a diameter of only a few tens of centimeters. Asteroids like this are simply countless and difficult to count in the asteroid belt.

“Activate the rail gun.” Shi Kai was also very relieved. He also knew that if a large asteroid was to collide with the spacecraft, the best way for the spacecraft is to change the flight path to avoid it, whether it is using the rail gun. Or missiles are not very safe for large asteroids several hundred meters in diameter.

“Yes!”

Deputy Mao Jun quickly entered commands through the virtual machine.

On the Star Catcher spacecraft, a long barrel sticks out. The principle of the rail gun is very simple. It is to accelerate a hard object, usually a metal tungsten rod, etc., and use Einstein’s mass-energy formula. The principle is that the faster the speed, the greater the energy it carries, relying on this savage impact to bring about powerful destructive power.

This is also a kind of weapon, and of course it was secretly researched by Xinghai Technology. This thing does not have much technical content, and it has already existed on earth.

“call out!”

The huge spaceship trembled slightly, and a projectile was hidden in the dark cosmic void environment, and flew away silently. released on.

Everyone looked at the surveillance screen. This can be regarded as the first time in human history to use weapons to destroy another celestial body. Although it is only an asteroid with a size of tens of centimeters, it is a small asteroid on the earth. just stones.

In the void not too far from the Star Catcher spacecraft, an asteroid is moving at a speed of tens of kilometers per second according to its own trajectory.

Suddenly, a projectile descended from the void and hit it accurately. In an instant, all the huge energy was released, and it instantly shattered and was completely destroyed.

“This should be the first time in human history that other celestial bodies have been destroyed, although it is only a small stone.”

Shi Kai looked at the surveillance screen and said with a sigh, it was a pity that it couldn’t be written into the textbook.

“The asteroid numbered M0345, no, its diameter is more than 1270 meters, although more than 80% are iron elements, but its mass has far exceeded the limit that our spacecraft can drag, and its mass has reached 4 billions of tons.”

Xia Zhigang was looking for a suitable target at this time. As the spacecraft gradually entered the core area of the asteroid belt, more and more asteroids were discovered.

“Look at this one, get rich, get rich.”

Ouyang Fei excitedly sent the information about an asteroid to Xia Zhigang, and at the same time, he was drooling and shouting like a small money fan.

“You two have something good to share, but don’t just focus on your own happiness.”

“That’s it, what kind of money do you make?”

The other team members also followed one by one, but they couldn’t understand the spectral data, and they couldn’t analyze the mass and composition of the asteroid, so they could only stare blankly.

“I went~ I really made a fortune. More than 20% of the elements in this asteroid numbered M0832 are gold. Oh my god, this is an asteroid made of gold.”

“Come on, its mass is too large, more than 500 million tons, and it is simply not something that our Star Catcher can eat.”

Xia Zhigang was very happy at first, if he could bring back an asteroid full of gold, the whole earth would explode completely, but when he calculated the mass of this asteroid, he couldn’t help but scold him.

“I go!”

The others felt like deflated balloons.

About 20% of asteroids with a mass of more than 500 million tons are gold. What does this mean?

This means that the mass of gold on this asteroid exceeds 100 million tons.

“God, more than 100 million tons of gold, there is not much gold on the whole earth, right?”

“How much is this worth?”

“Now that 1 ton of gold is worth 4 small targets, I will not forget it.”

“Fuck, 400 million? How much money do we have on earth?”

“How can there be so much gold?”

“It is said that the gold unearthed by human beings on our earth is only about 200,000 tons, and this asteroid has hundreds of millions of tons of gold…”

“In fact, the total amount of gold on the earth is also very large, but most of the gold is stored in the earth’s bottom crust and mantle, and the total gold reserves of the earth exceed 400 million tons.”

“According to the research of our astronomical scientists, we believe that a planet like the earth should have formed in the asteroid belt, but because of the huge gravitational force of Jupiter and the sun, this planet could never be formed, which also means The gold contained in this planet is distributed in the asteroid belt, and the asteroid in front of me is nothing.”

“It’s still a pity, I can’t bring it back to Earth, or I’ll really make a fortune.”

“What’s a pity, if it is brought back to Earth, the price of gold will definitely plummet, and it will not be worth so much.”

All the members were dumbfounded. The value of this asteroid is a treasure star. There is too much gold, and everyone is constantly discussing it.

“But it doesn’t matter. I will record its detailed data here. We will always be able to drag it in the future.”

Xia Zhigang smiled and recorded the data of this asteroid in the computer very seriously, so as to facilitate the mining of the asteroid in the future. Such a gold-rich asteroid is definitely not to be missed.

“The mass of this asteroid is only 50 million tons. We can completely drag it, but its mass is too small, and the basic element is silicon, which is of little value.”

“The mass of this asteroid exceeds 300 million tons. Although it is basically composed of iron elements, it is very valuable, but it exceeds our limit capabilities.”

The team of cosmic astronomy scientists led by Xia Zhigang and Ouyang Fei patiently calculated the mass and composition elements of each asteroid. Anyway, there are more and more asteroids around, and there are opportunities to choose.

“Hurry up and take a look. An asteroid with a diameter of about 1,000 meters was found 5,000 kilometers ahead of us. According to the spectral wavelength and color position, this asteroid is actually composed of iron elements. This asteroid is The weight is around 200 million tons, which is definitely our best goal.”

Ouyang Fei said to everyone excitedly as if he had discovered a new continent.

“Asteroids of about 200 million tons are all made of iron?”

“This is our dish.”

As soon as Xia Zhi heard it, he immediately came to his spiritual power, and hurriedly looked at it. After reading it, he said with great certainty.

PS: It is said that the gold on the earth can be divided into 5 million tons per person~~