Chapter 326: Landing!
Chapter 326 – Landing!
Milky Way, Alpha Centauri:
Under the Type-R s.p.a.cecraft’s rapid cruising, Chen Yu and the others arrived within seven million kilometers of the red dwarf Proxima Centauri in less than 15 minutes.
At this distance, everyone could also clearly spot Proxima Centauri b, the rusty red planet that was roughly the same size as Earth.
From an outsider’s perspective, Proxima b looked very similar to Mars, though it was much redder than Mars.
This proved that the planet’s surface contained a lot of metallic minerals.
Meanwhile, when the astronomy enthusiasts in the livestream rooms saw the red planet, their hearts sank simultaneously.
Inside the s.p.a.cecraft, the donation group’s astronauts couldn’t help but exchange looks with each other and sigh helplessly.
The search for alien life had failed.
While Proxima b indeed possessed ma.s.s roughly similar to Earth, it had already been locked by the red dwarf’s tide…
“Friends, it seems that we won’t be finding any life on this planet,” Chen Yu said, shrugging as he stared at the red planet ahead. “It has already been locked by the red dwarf’s tide. While this situation is unexpected, it is also reasonable.
“As the red dwarf has low brightness and ma.s.s, the energy it radiates outward is feeble. Hence, its habitable zone is incredibly small. Meanwhile, for a planet to be at such close distance from a red dwarf, it is very typical for the planet to be tidally locked to the red dwarf. Take the solar system’s Mercury and Earth’s moon, for example. Their rotation and revolution periods are equal, which results in half of the celestial body experiencing eternal day, and the other half experiencing eternal night.
“It is impossible for there to be an exchange of information in such a complex and extreme environment. There will also be a huge disparity in the temperature of Proxima b’s two sides. Hence, it is almost impossible for the spontaneous birth of life to occur here. Moreover, Proxima b is located in the innermost circle of Proxima Centauri’s habitable zone. Even if Proxima b does give birth to life, it is unknown whether said life can survive the red dwarf’s super-powerful ultraviolet radiation.”
“Actually…” While putting on her s.p.a.cesuit, the woman from the Red Coast Observatory corrected, “It isn’t impossible for planets tidally locked to produce life. According to the latest research results of Professor Hu Yongyun from Beijing University’s School of Physics, ocean heat transport can substantially extend the dayside habitable area and efficiently warm the nightside. Hence, so long as conditions allow for it, not only would the nightside’s atmosphere not collapse, but liquid water also wouldn’t freeze up.”
“Is that so?” Chen Yu nodded despite having no knowledge of the topic.
“Yes.” One of the two j.a.panese astronauts nodded. “The industry generally agrees with this view.”
Hearing these words, everyone regained a glimmer of hope.
Under a situation where they had an overwhelming advantage in “equipment,” all humans couldn’t wait to see what the aliens looked like.
“But what if this planet doesn’t have an atmosphere?” Chen Yu said quietly.
“No atmosphere?”
“Mhm.”
Chen Yu nodded. He then manipulated the s.p.a.cecraft’s “telescope” function and zoomed in on the distant planet. Immediately, what entered everyone’s eyes was a barren planet void of any clouds.
[Rip.]
[Why doesn’t it have even the slightest bit of atmosphere? The temperature of red dwarfs isn’t that high!]
[It obviously got blown away by the red dwarf’s radiation.]
[Sure enough, the Trisolarans are in dire straits.]
[I suddenly realized that with UP on our side, isn’t Earth’s combat power a little abnormal?]
Clap, clap.
Clapping his hands, Chen Yu looked toward the donation group’s astronauts and asked, “Is there any possibility of life now?”
“…No.”
“Let’s get things done quickly, then. The two other stars in the system are the main dish.”
“Okay.”
“Hai!”
“OK…”
Without an atmosphere, the s.p.a.cecraft’s descent onto Proxima b did not generate any flames. After landing on the planet, the cabin door opened, and a staircase unfolded from the s.p.a.cecraft.
“There is a temporary spatial film set up at the door to prevent the entry of harmful substances and ensure the safety of the s.p.a.cecraft’s pa.s.sengers. However, after you step through this spatial film, you can only rely on your s.p.a.cesuits to protect yourself. So, please thoroughly inspect your s.p.a.cesuits. Otherwise, you will be responsible for any accidents that happen to you.
After saying so, Chen Yu put on his left glove and stepped out of the s.p.a.cecraft first. He then arrived on solid ground a short moment later.
“Well, this is a small step for me, but a big step for mankind as a whole. Of course, it is much bigger than Armstrong’s. It’s so big that I nearly stretched my b.a.l.l.s.”
Everyone: “…”
Opening the storage compartment on his backplate, Chen Yu pulled out a red national flag and inserted it into the rocky ground. “Since ancient times, this place has been a part of China’s territory.”
Everyone: “…”
“Since there is no atmosphere, there is no need to worry about temperature and atmospheric pressure. Everyone, come down.”
With Chen Yu’s permission, all partic.i.p.ants who had put on simple s.p.a.cesuits promptly stepped out of the s.p.a.cecraft one after another. They then began setting up scanning devices and collecting samples.
As for the interactive partic.i.p.ants without s.p.a.cesuits, they could only lean against the s.p.a.cecraft’s walls and gawk at the scenery outside.
“Huh? Where’s Mr. Ma?”
Shortly afterward, the people remaining on the s.p.a.cecraft noticed that Jack Ma and his wife were nowhere to be seen. After careful inspection, they discovered that the couple had actually donned brand-new s.p.a.cesuits and gotten off the s.p.a.cecraft to take pictures.
“Money really lets you do anything…” Leading Pillar said sourly.
Whoosh—
Flying into the air with the plasma engine’s help, Chen Yu made a big circle around the s.p.a.cecraft. Unfortunately, he failed to detect any intelligent creations or traces of intelligent life.
“This is a desolate planet. There is no life to speak of here,” Chen Yu said as he landed back on the ground. While collecting unique rock samples, he narrated, “Previously, I have seen quite a few netizens asking the following: Life in the universe comes in all sorts of variety, so why should we look for life based on human standards? Can there not be silicon-based life? Plasma-based life? Or even all kinds of magical life? Why must scientists have such a monotonous imagination?
“In actual fact, scientists have a much more colorful imagination than ordinary people. The kinds of lifeforms mentioned by netizens might exist, but we humans have never seen any examples. We also do not know the survival conditions and environment for such lifeforms.
“The only thing we are certain is that Earth’s environment can give birth to life. Hence, why should scientists waste their time trying to blindly search for lifeforms in the vast universe instead of searching for planets based on Earth’s model?
“Moreover, if we can’t find even the most basic carbon-based life, there is no need for us to waste our time searching for intelligent life. In the vast universe, carbon-based life is the easiest to take form.”
Digging up a slightly round stone from under the rocky ground, Chen Yu shook off the dust on the stone and continued showing off the knowledge he had learned through using the Quantum Reading Gla.s.ses. “As we all know, carbon won’t lose or gain electrons easily. It also doesn’t form ionic bonds. The only thing carbon can form are covalent bonds. Simultaneously, the carbon element has a stable number of chemical bonds. If it had one less chemical bond, it would be incapable of forming various structures. If it had one more chemical bond, its stability would be affected.
“Therefore, it is possible for various long chains, circular chains, branched chains, etc., to form between carbon atoms. Simply put, out of all elements found in the universe, only carbon is the most likely to form life. As for the silicon element, while the possibility for it to form life exists, the chances are drastically lower compared to carbon. As for the other elements…”
Sneering at the camera, Chen Yu said, “I’ll bet a kidney that no life can come from those elements.”
Buzz!
As soon as Chen Yu finished speaking, a spherical blue light the size of a ping-pong ball suddenly appeared in front of him out of thin air. The ball of light then began consciously rising and falling, flickering in and out of existence…
Chen Yu: “???”