Galaxy Technology Empire

[Official history, begin to adjust the flight direction, target the fourth planet in the solar system - Mars. ]

[Received, adjusting. ]

[Adjustments completed, ready to go. ]

[Start the photon engine and start accelerating. ]

Fang Tianbo immediately pressed the start switch of the photon engine, and immediately one of the Golden Crow 3 nuclear fusion reactors in the spacecraft began to supply surging energy to the photon engine.

Since the material in outer space is very scarce, although the beta rays spurt out from the nozzle of the photon engine, the beta ray stream cannot be observed with the naked eye.

Driven by the photon engine, the Sun Chaser began to accelerate toward Mars evenly.

The front half of the spacecraft was half-wrapped by a condensed matter shield. As time went by, the speed of the Sun Chaser spacecraft became faster and faster.

[Report, collision phenomenon occurred. ]

[Pay attention to direction and distance. ]

[receive. ]

The so-called impact phenomenon is actually a common problem of sub-light spacecraft. Because the spacecraft is very fast, it will cause a violent impact when it encounters any material. Even thin interstellar dust will produce a huge impact.

This is also a very troublesome problem when a sublight-speed spacecraft flies inside a star system.

If the Sun Chaser is not protected by a condensed matter shield, the hydrogen atoms or helium atoms in these interstellar dust will continue to wash away the spacecraft; if it encounters a small meteorite the size of a screw, it will instantly create a spacecraft. The tragedy of the spaceship crashing and killing people.

The Anluo people use high-power magnetic field deflection to avoid collisions. It is currently unknown how other civilizations solve this problem.

…

"How is that possible?" Dr. Archimedes' eyes widened as he looked at the satellite monitoring information in front of him.

Others also looked in disbelief. They were monitoring the situation of the New Chang'an Space Station just now, especially the huge spacecraft Zhuri, which was their key target.

Ten minutes ago, Zhuri began to leave the parking area of ​​the New Chang'an Space Station, and NASA satellites immediately detected relevant information.

At first, the spacecraft was flying slowly towards the outer orbit in a normal manner, until they encountered something like a ghost just now.

"Continue testing again." Archimedes calmed down and ordered.

"OK."

A group of staff operated the satellite's instruments and equipment and continued to track the Sun Chaser spacecraft, but the more they followed, the more fearful they became.

It's too fast, and it's getting faster and faster.

"Oh! It has reached a speed of 300 kilometers per second, which is equivalent to one thousandth of the speed of light, and it is still accelerating."

"..." Dr. Archimedes looked at the real-time data in front of him and couldn't calm down for a long time. Suddenly a hand patted his shoulder.

"Archimedes, what happened?" John Burns, the new administrator of NASA, appeared behind him and asked.

"Director John, we were monitoring the spacecraft of the Human Revolution Alliance just now..." Dr. Archimedes quickly explained the situation.

"Are you sure?" John Burns' first reaction was disbelief.

Archimedes pointed to the surveillance database and everyone present and said: "Sir, there is no need for me to make such an international joke."

Although he is an administrative staff member, as the administrator of NASA, he still has some academic qualities, especially the knowledge of aerospace and aviation. John Burns quickly and carefully checked the monitoring database, and then looked at the current Monitor results instantly.

"The current speed has reached 32,000 kilometers per second, which is one-tenth the speed of light." A staff member exclaimed.

Dr. Archimedes felt that his world view was impacted, and John Burns on the side was not much better. He sat on the chair with cold hands and feet, staring blankly at the data that kept scrolling on the old screen.

[33723KM/S……33815KM/S……]

"Judging from the trajectory of their spacecraft, they are heading to Mars." Dr. Archimedes said with some frustration.

"With the speed of their spacecraft, how long will it take to reach Mars?" John Burns asked feebly.

Archimedes thought for a while and replied: "The last Mars opposition has just passed. The distance between Mars and Blue Star is relatively close at present. At the speed of their spacecraft, it will take about two hours!"

At present, the distance between Blue Star and Mars is relatively close. The distance between the two sides is about 141 million kilometers. Why is it said that the distance between Blue Star and Mars is relatively close? In fact, this has something to do with the orbit of Mars and Mars opposition.

What is Mars opposition?

Mars opposition means that Mars, Blue Star and the Sun are almost aligned in a line, with Blue Star located between the Sun and Mars. At this time, the side of Mars illuminated by the Sun is completely facing Blue Star, so it is bright and easy to observe.

The time interval between two consecutive oppositions of Mars is about 779 days, and the average opposition is once every 780 days. The last two times occurred on July 27, 2018 and October 6, 2020 respectively.

During Mars opposition, it is the time when Blue Star and Mars are closest to each other. This is also the time period when space agencies of various countries previously launched Mars probes.

However, Mars opposition is also divided into major opposition and minor opposition. A great opposition means that Mars, Blue Star, and the Sun are not just on the same line. Blue Star happens to be near aphelion, and Mars is near perihelion. This is the so-called great opposition of Mars.

At opposition, Mars is within approximately 60 million kilometers of the Blue Star, and can be as far as more than 100 million kilometers away. Since the eccentricity of Mars' orbit is nearly 1/10, it is 206.7 million kilometers away from the sun at perihelion and 249.2 million kilometers away from the sun at aphelion, with a difference of 42.5 million kilometers between the two.

For example, during the Mars opposition on August 27, 2003, the distance between Mars and the Blue Star reached the shortest in 60,000 years, only about 55.758 million kilometers.

The Mars opposition on July 27, 2018 is a major opposition, while the Mars opposition on October 6, 2020 is a minor opposition. The minor opposition means that the closest distance is about 100 million kilometers.

As the speed of the spacecraft becomes faster and faster, ground monitoring has become very difficult. We can only carefully monitor and search along the trajectory.

Kaohsiung Space Center.

"The Sun Chaser has reached its true maximum cruising speed, 41,427 kilometers per second."

"It is expected to reach Mars synchronous orbit in 4197 seconds, and the entire journey is expected to take 6273 seconds."

"The spacecraft has responded and everything is normal."

"..."

Listening to the staff's methodical report, Wang Tu was temporarily relieved. The danger of sublight speed flight was very great. Not only was it difficult to control on the ground, but the relative speed between the high-speed flying spacecraft and other things in the universe was very high. If there was no cohesion, With a state shield, if the magnetic field is merely deflected, the risk is still very high.

…

[Captain, the spacecraft has reached the deceleration zone. ]

[Brake and slow down immediately. ]

[yes. ]

The Chaser began to brake and slow down when it was still 15 million kilometers away from the synchronous orbit of Mars. If it did not brake and slow down now, the Chaser would directly cross the solar orbit of Mars and then rush towards the asteroid belt and the orbit of Jupiter.

After all, at such a fast speed, the gravitational pull of Mars, which is only 2/5 of the Blue Star, is not enough to capture the Sun Chaser, so braking and slowing down is a must.

[Yuri, report spacecraft fuel reserves. ]

[Report, the current ion working medium of Zhuri is 108.76 tons, and the nuclear fuel is 4316 kilograms]

Fang Tianbo is not too worried about the fuel. After all, the ion working medium is submetallic hydrogen, which can be used as nuclear fuel.

Even if all these fuels are consumed, the 2,000 tons of cargo transported by the spacecraft can be used as nuclear fuel. In addition, the Sun Chaser can also capture asteroids and the like to replenish nuclear fuel.