Chapter 1350: Distant Planet Colony System
Jinling aeros.p.a.ce a.s.sembly center.
This high-tech factory covered an area of more than 100 acres. It collected and distributed state-of-the-art aeros.p.a.ce equipment. The Star Voyage One quantum computer provided cloud information services and used a.s.sembly lines, multi-axis electric drive robotic arms, logistics vehicles, and automated equipment such as aerial vehicles to fully standardize and automate production.
This place was like a furnace, melting and forging the dreams of all Chinese citizens.
Director Chang Hezhi stood inside this behemoth. He was one of the people in charge of the Mars landing plan. Together with Academician Yuan Huanmin and other senior engineers and executives of aeros.p.a.ce technology groups, they stood there quietly and waited.
After about ten minutes.
Finally, under the escort of several military vehicles, a black car drove into the parking lot. It stopped at the entrance of the factory.
The car door opened, and a serious old man and a young man got out of the car at the same time.
Needless to say, everyone in China knew who the old man was.
As well as the young man.
His academic achievements had already conquered the international academic community. Anyone who followed relevant news in the scientific community could instantly recognize him.
They knew him as “Professor Lu”.
The president noticed the serious expressions on everyone’s face, so he smiled kindly and said, “Don’t be so serious, I just came here to take a look… The colony capsule is in this factory?”
Lu Zhou noticed that the president was looking at him. He smiled and nodded.
“The a.s.sembly is complete, let’s go inside.”
“Academician Lu, please lead the way!”
After some small talk, the group of people walked into the factory building in the very center of the aeros.p.a.ce a.s.sembly center.
The president looked around at the metal high-precision automation equipment. He then said emotionally, “I have seen a lot of factories all over the country. But every time I come here, I am in awe.”
The logistics trucks were like worker ants, interacting with a series of mechanical equipment such as robotic arms and conveyor belts. Everything was so smooth; there was not a single pause.
The entire factory was like a clock, and every gear here was running under the coordination of AI. Its speed might not be the fastest, but it was precise to the millimeter.
It was like everything here was carefully designed.
“This is the latest industrial cloud service technology developed by our team. In addition to the aeros.p.a.ce a.s.sembly center, this system is currently in use for logistics centers in major cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai, as well as the Jin Ling high-tech zone. According to our customers’ feedback, standardized manufacturing through automation technology has dominated the international market!”
Lu Zhou looked at the shocked expression on the president’s face. He spoke after thinking for a moment.
“AI application in industrial automation is trending. With breakthroughs in quantum chips and computer technology, we are now ahead of the world. There will be more and more automated factories in the future. The population will change from low-end industries to high-end industries. This will bring about a series of social issues, such as employment rate, extended education time, and so forth. These are all things we must consider.”
“Employment rate is indeed a problem.” The president nodded thoughtfully and said, “It is unrealistic to hinder the development of technology. Once the technology is mature enough, this kind of automation technology will migrate to the industry sooner or later… Is that what you mean?”
Lu Zhou: “Basically.”
“Are there any good solutions?”
“Social welfare, increasing public expenditure, and developing the tertiary industry… They are all good solutions. I believe that the scholars of social sciences must be more knowledgeable than me in researching these issues.”
“Social welfare might still be a bit difficult.” The old man frowned and said thoughtfully, “Our situation is somewhat different from other countries. First of all, population is a big problem.”
“In the short term, it is a problem.” Lu Zhou nodded and said, “But I believe that as long as the productivity is sufficiently developed, even if the population doubles, we will be able to maintain the expenditure of a high social welfare.”
The president suddenly turned to look at the a.s.sistant behind him.
“Did you write that down?”
The a.s.sistant nodded and closed the notepad in his hand.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.”
The president looked at Lu Zhou and said with a smile, “I will discuss this in a meeting after I go back. Let’s take a look at the colony capsule that is going to be sent to Mars.”
Lu Zhou said with a smile, “It’s right over there!”
Through a metal alloy door, inside an empty factory building, everyone saw a silver-white s.p.a.cecraft in the shape of an egg, covered by a steel frame.
The s.p.a.cecraft was about half the size of a basketball court. It did not look like a normal s.p.a.cecraft.
In fact, it was more like a s.p.a.ce station.
Almost everyone was shocked by the size of this machine.
Especially Academician Yuan Huanmin and other engineers from the China Aeros.p.a.ce Science and Industry Corporation.
Instead of thinking this was “awesome” and “cool”, they were thinking about how difficult it would be to send this thing to s.p.a.ce.
Academician Yuan Huanmin stared dumbfounded at this s.p.a.cecraft. After a long time, he couldn’t help but ask, “This… How do you plan to send it to Mars?”
Many people had the same question in their minds.
This included Director Chang Hezhi, the person in charge of the Mars Landing Project, and the leaders of the Lunar Orbit Committee. Almost everyone turned to Lu Zhou for the answer.
Lu Zhou smiled and explained, “It’s not difficult to send it to Mars. As long as it is sent to a geosynchronous...o...b..t first, the Starlight or Magpie Bridge can take it to Mars.
“Of course, this time we don’t need to use the Starlight or Magpie Bridge. Our design inst.i.tute took into account the peculiarities of this equipment when designing the colony capsule and designed a separate flight system for it.
“Including the colony capsule, the entire flight system contains more than twelve different functional components. This together forms a colonial s.h.i.+p with the ability to navigate to planets that are far away. We will launch these components into geosynchronous...o...b..t in batches and complete the a.s.sembly there!”
A separate flight system?!
Yuan Huanmin was shocked by the amount of information revealed to him.
“… Colonial… Colonial s.h.i.+p?”
“Yes.” Lu Zhou nodded and looked at Academician Yuan Huanmin. He said, “This is not the whole s.h.i.+p, it connects with other components.
“Therefore, in theory, it is not only applicable to Mars, nor can it be viewed as only an artificial biosphere. It is a complete set of distant planet colonization systems designed by our researchers for extraterrestrial colonization activities.
“If the conditions are met, we could go to even further places!”