Chapter 601: s.p.a.ceport
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Due to the existence of Blacklight Biotechnology, the world was changing with each pa.s.sing day.
Some experts had shown that the growth rate of human lifespan in the past 20 years was over a hundred times higher than it was after the industrial revolution. However, just today, the official website of the Earth Federation suddenly announced shocking news —
As of 9:31 a.m. on 23 July 2040, the global population officially exceeded 10 billion, a full decade earlier than the predicted rate thirty years ago.
Thirty years ago, before the great company Blacklight Biotechnology was born, the Earth Federation had used population growth data to roughly come up with a population growth table.
Back in 1830, after the industrial revolution, the world’s productivity increased dramatically, and the world’s population reached 1 billion for the first time.
Then, the progress of humankind began to skyrocket. Only a century later, in 1930, the world’s population officially exceeded the 2 billion mark.
After that, the population growth continued to rise. The population was 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1975, 5 billion in 1987, and 6 billion in 1999!
During the time of the statistics in this table, which was in 2011, the population had reached an astonishing 7 billion.
While this table indicated the rapid population growth, it also warned of future population explosions and resource constraints. It was estimated that the world’s population would increase by more than 1 billion in the next 15 years and would reach 8 billion by 2026.
Although this table also pointed out that decisions such as d.i.n.k, non-marriage, late marriage, and childbirth were bound to increase in the future, after all, with a growing base, the population would continue to expand. Around the year 2050, the world’s population would officially exceed the 10 billion mark.
However, although this table antic.i.p.ated the evolution of human cultural trends, it did not antic.i.p.ate the rise of Blacklight Biotechnology.
Nonetheless, the Earth Federation did not become pessimistic just because it had reached the population explosion number ahead of schedule. On the contrary, the Earth Federation said that mankind had never been as hopeful as it was now.
Blacklight Biotechnology’s single-handed establishment of a permanent alien colony, Ares Science City on Mars, marked a stunning step forward for civilization. Since then, human beings had been promoted from planetary natives to an interplanetary species and had completely entered the era of extraterrestrial colonization.
Although the current Ares Science City could only accommodate hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, the four continents had also sent s.p.a.cecraft to Mars. Four permanent colonies of a larger scale were under construction on Mars. In less than ten years in the future, at least ten million people would officially immigrate to Mars.
This development had made many people vaguely aware of the secret rivalry between the four continents and Blacklight Biotechnology, but at least on the surface, the two sides still maintained a show of goodwill and harmony.
Not only that, but also, with the implementation of the mankind anti-aging project, the average human lifespan had exceeded the 100-year mark. The period of life extended was by no means old age, but youth and middle age.
These two periods had been greatly extended, which meant that the problem of an aging society was gradually alleviated. With the promotion of age-reversal treatment programs, countless elderly people had turned into middle-aged people. According to this trend, the established definition of “middle-aged” in the Earth Federation population had been modified from 40–60 years old to 40–80 years old.
Under such circ.u.mstances, many countries had begun to adapt their policies to extend the retirement date. Although there were some voices of opposition, after this momentous shift, unless one did not opt for the “age-reversal treatment programs” to increase one’s lifespan, one could only obey the rules that had been changed on a general level.
“Because of the prospects and development of extraterrestrial colonization technology, no country or continent in the world has issued an order to restrict population growth.”
At this time, Chen Chen was sitting in the office, silently watching the population announcement issued by the Earth Federation while Little X said, “Obviously, all countries in the world are very optimistic about the migration of human beings to other planets.”
“But of course.”
Chen Chen nodded and chuckled. “After all, our Blacklight Biotechnology has paved the way for them in advance. Of course, they aren’t willing to limit their population. If they know that we have even prepared the s.p.a.ce warp engine technology that we’ll need in the future, wouldn’t they be leaping with delight?
“However, although we’ve obtained the blueprints and data on the s.p.a.ce warp engine technology, we’re still figuring things out.”
Little X added on to Chen Chen’s words. “It’s estimated that in two or three months, the first s.p.a.ce warp engine can be manufactured and then we’d still need to produce a compatible s.p.a.cecraft.”
Chen Chen nodded when he heard these words and said thoughtfully, “It’s time to build a s.p.a.ceport that belongs to our Blacklight Biotechnology. After all, the main focus of human activities will be diverted to s.p.a.ce in the future and it’s time to form our own interstellar fleet.”
“But what should we do?”
Little X tilted her head and curiously said, “A s.p.a.ceport that can manufacture outer s.p.a.ceships is probably shockingly expensive. Although nuclear-powered engines can greatly reduce the cost of transporting materials into s.p.a.ce, if you want to hurry up and build a huge s.p.a.ce station before the completion of the s.p.a.ce warp engine, it’s probably not that easy. We’ll have to launch at least a thousand rockets.”
“Dummy.”
However, Chen Chen flicked Little X’s forehead lightly and laughed. “Do we need to send the s.p.a.ceport into s.p.a.ce part by part? Isn’t it enough to launch the black Gantz sphere into s.p.a.ce?”
Little X nursed her forehead. At first, she was shrinking back subconsciously, but after Chen Chen’s words, her eyes suddenly lit up. “That’s a good plan! The black sphere only needs electricity and the Gantz satellite uses signals to easily teleport things between two points. As long as a black sphere is transported to s.p.a.ce, we can continuously teleport supplies there!”
Thus, it was decided. Soon, a nuclear-powered rocket had been arranged in the aeros.p.a.ce base. At the same time, the engineers also received a secret engineering drawing. According to the requirements on the engineering drawing, they secretly spent a few days manufacturing a crude mechanical platform.
This platform had over a hundred robotic arms. The longest one adopted a folding built-in robotic arm structure. Its maximum operating distance could reach more than a hundred meters and it could bear a load of a thousand kilograms. Even the smallest robotic arm was two or three meters long and could withstand a hundred kilograms of weight.
Strictly speaking, the mechanical platform was a fully automatic workshop of unknown function!
After this mechanical platform was folded in, it could collapse into a giant cylinder with a diameter of 25 meters and a length of more than 50 meters. Then, the cylinder was installed in this nuclear-powered rocket that had been prepared for a long time.
After that, there was no need to make an application to the Earth Federation. Today’s Blacklight Biotechnology indeed had the qualification to launch satellites by itself. Blacklight Biotechnology only informed the Earth Federation of the geosynchronous...o...b..t data to indicate the position it would be occupying and then this rocket was launched silently.
After half a day, the mechanical platform in the rocket had entered the geosynchronous...o...b..t.
With the successful orbit, the fairing on the rocket was completely discarded and the five brackets that clung to the inside of the rocket were also extended at a forty-five-degree angle at the tail of the rocket. From a distance, it looked like a throne held high and the entire mechanical platform was flooded with colorful signals.
If anyone saw this, they would be shocked to realize — so much for it being a satellite, this was a prototype of a huge s.p.a.ce station!
This huge mechanical platform gradually stretched out its frame on orbit. As the robotic arms slowly unfolded, it looked more and more sinister. It did not need solar panels at all as the nuclear fusion reactor in the platform could supply energy to the satellite for centuries.
At this moment, most of the rocket parts on the mechanical platform began to slowly detach and fell toward the earth. The platform was suspended in orbit, facing the earth’s surface far away. In the center of the platform, a black sphere half the size of a person, which was embedded in the surface, also gradually glowed with icy blue light.
Everyone knew that it was very difficult to set up a s.p.a.ce station in outer s.p.a.ce. Even if the required technology was achieved, the transportation of materials was also a ma.s.sive problem as they needed to be launched from the earth by rockets.
Although the advent of nuclear fusion thrusters had greatly reduced the cost of launching rockets, the time cost had not been reduced. It also required multiple launches to transport materials. It would take more than several years to build an adequate s.p.a.ce station in the boundless void of outer s.p.a.ce.
However, the emergence of the black Gantz sphere perfectly solved this problem. Although the black sphere’s teleportation required a lot of electric power, it was already indescribably affordable compared to the cost of launching.
At this time, as the black sphere started its teleportation, the parts that had been prepared for a long time were teleported to the mechanical platform and the hundreds of mechanical arms immediately began operation. Bit by bit, as if these were building blocks, it started to construct the prototype of the s.p.a.ce station.
Chen Chen was ambitious indeed. The first s.p.a.ce station he wanted to build was by no means similar to the small s.p.a.ce station of the Earth Federation that could only accommodate a dozen people and was not even the size of a villa. What he wanted to build was a giant s.p.a.ce dock.
In the future, this s.p.a.ce station would not only be able to berth hundreds of warships and resource transport ships but would also be a s.p.a.ce transportation port. Resources mined from the solar system did not have to be transported directly back to the earth. Instead, the resources would be acc.u.mulated here and then be transported back by proprietary ships.
In other words, this s.p.a.ce station would be a large-scale s.p.a.ceport unprecedented for humankind. Through this port, Blacklight Biotechnology could naturally gain more authority and more benefits...
A s.p.a.ce station that suddenly appeared naturally quickly attracted the attention of the Earth Federation. In particular, they noticed that this s.p.a.ce station suspended in a synchronous...o...b..t over Namibia grew rapidly with each pa.s.sing day, which astounded the upper echelons of the Earth Federation.
They could not understand how Chen Chen did it, so they tried to get information from Blacklight Biotechnology. However, only Chen Chen and Little X knew about this plan, so all their efforts were in vain.
In this manner, in less than three months, when autumn was arriving, the s.p.a.ce station had reached the size of a hill.
After three months of fully automatic construction, the s.p.a.ce station at this time had begun to take shape. From the outside, it looked like a drawn bow. At the same time, at the position of the bowstring, there were five horizontal docking sites.
Four of the docking sites were empty. In the docking site of the first row, a 30-meter-long, cigar-shaped s.p.a.cecraft was moored quietly. Each docking site represented a berth.
Today’s s.p.a.ceport was only beginning to take shape, so it could only berth small s.p.a.cecraft, and there were only five berths. After the s.p.a.ceport personally designed by Little X was completely built, it could berth a large s.p.a.ceship more than a hundred times larger than the Ares.
At this time, as the last part was delivered to the s.p.a.ceport, a black sphere with a diameter of one meter, surrounded by three metal rings, appeared in the teleportation warehouse of the s.p.a.ceport.
At the same time, there were five Black Knights in s.p.a.ce suits.
Through the long-distance control of Little X, the Black Knights carried the weirdly shaped metal ball into the s.p.a.cecraft moored in the port. After that came a complicated installation and loading process until the metal ball was fully installed inside the s.p.a.cecraft. At this point, a s.p.a.cecraft equipped with a s.p.a.ce warp engine was finally completed.
Yes, that weird black sphere was the first s.p.a.ce warp engine that Chen Chen had attempted to produce based on the technology he acquired from the Event Horizon dimension.
The next step could not be any easier.
In the southern part of the Eco Science City, in addition to the s.p.a.ce base, a huge s.p.a.ce observatory had already been built a few years ago.
Here, rows of radio telescopes with an area of ??more than thousands of square meters had been erected, each of which was over ten thousand square meters in size. They formed a super array and looked toward the sky in a unified manner.
Over time, these radio telescopes slowly rotated like gigantic sunflowers.
Any one of these radio telescopes alone might not be as powerful or as large as ??FAST (the Sky’s Eye of China), but there were hundreds of radio telescopes gathered here. Together their scale had exceeded FAST, reaching an unprecedented level.