Great Country Academician

Chapter 990 A trillion-level super project~

After scanning the document in his hand and carefully reading the "quite outrageous" renovation report, Academician Chang Huaxiang took a breath of the cool air blown by the central air conditioner.

Activate the core of Mars, create the Martian magnetic field, strengthen the Martian atmosphere, improve the Martian soil environment, adjust the proportion of various gases in the atmosphere, artificially create a biosphere, and build an initial full-coverage Mars city.

A series of planning and transformation processes encompassed the entire transformation of Mars. Its craziness and boldness were simply the craziest ideas he had ever seen in his life.

Unable to help swallowing, Academician Chang Huaxiang looked at Xu Chuan and said with some shock and surprise: "Your plan is too crazy."

Smiling, Xu Chuan picked up the porcelain cup and took a sip of the tea inside, and said, "But theoretically speaking, these plans are indeed feasible to a certain extent, aren't they?"

"If we can activate the magnetic field of Mars and restore the atmosphere, then we can gain a planet that is at least suitable for human habitation to a certain extent. What's the point of being crazy?"

Although Mars is much smaller than the Earth, if a planet-level planet can be terraformed, it is worthy of consideration from all aspects.

For today's humans, this not only provides a new place to live, but also provides valuable experience and resources for future space exploration and colonization.

If the terraforming of Mars can be successful, it is foreseeable that human civilization will spread out in the universe in the form of exponential expansion, exploring and transforming more planets.

Putting the report document in his hand on the coffee table, Chang Huaxiang said with emotion: "Even if it is theoretically feasible to transform Mars, if you want to carry out this project, I'm afraid."

He didn't finish what he said, but both of them knew what was left unsaid.

If the Mars terraforming project is really determined to be implemented in the future, it will be the largest engineering project ever undertaken by mankind!

What about the eight wonders of the world, what about canals, hydraulic dams, what about building lunar outpost scientific stations?

It is no exaggeration to say that the scale of all these projects considered to be super projects in human history is not even one-tenth or even one percent of it.

In addition, if we want to plan a budget for the Mars transformation project, I am afraid that the funds required to complete this project will be at least hundreds of billions.

Of course, it doesn’t matter how much money is needed. Money is no longer the core factor in deciding this project.

In the face of harvesting a planet similar to the Earth and suitable for human immigration, as long as it can be achieved, no matter how much money is spent, there is no problem in the minds of leaders of various countries.

Asking whether the money is worth it is as meaningless as asking how much the earth is worth.

For the Mars terraforming project, the core factor is whether the project can be established.

Yes, one of the biggest problems with this project is whether it can be established.

After all, transforming a planet, which sounds like a fantasy, is almost impossible for current human civilization.

And compared with the investment, risks, uncertainties and other factors involved in transforming the entire Mars, the feasibility of building a large-scale immigration city on Mars is higher.

This is true even for China, and even high-level officials may be more supportive of the immigration plan to build a Mars city.

After all, they have successfully and completely built an outpost scientific research base on the moon, which is now enough to accommodate 500 personnel during normal operation.

With experience in the construction of Yuehuatai Outpost Scientific Research Station, I believe that they can also quickly recreate a large city on Mars with a better environment.

A Martian city can accommodate at least hundreds of thousands of residents.

When human civilization first entered space and began to expand outward, this was already a very good answer.

However, for Xu Chuan, he is not simply satisfied with building a Mars city and immigrating hundreds of thousands of people to Mars to slowly develop this step.

If Mars has no chance of transformation, then that's it.

But judging from the current exploration data on Mars, all the information points to the direction that can be transformed. In this situation, if he didn't give it a try, Xu Chuan felt that he would definitely regret it in the future.

And more importantly, once the construction of Mars City and related immigration work are started, it will be extremely difficult to start the Mars transformation project in the future.

Only when Mars has not yet been developed in the early stages can we have the greatest confidence in persuading others to carry out this project.

After taking a sip of tea, Chang Huaxiang glanced at the report documents on the coffee table. Chang Huaxiang looked at Xu Chuan curiously and asked.

"I don't care whether this plan can be passed or not, but since you have proposed the idea of ​​terraforming Mars, how likely do you think it can be realized?"

Hearing this question, Xu Chuan thought for a while and said: "At present, I can't give an answer. This needs to be supported by subsequent geological exploration data on Mars."

"but."

After a slight pause, he then stretched out a palm and continued with a smile on his face: "If the next exploration data meets my minimum expectations, it is certain to transform Mars into an Earth-like planet suitable for human habitation. , I have at least 50%!”

"Fifty percent! Are you sure?"

Hearing this answer, Chang Huaxiang couldn't help but take another breath.

Although half the certainty may not sound high, for a huge and invincible project like transforming an entire planet, especially based on current aerospace technology, it can be said to be very, very high.

It was even so high that even he felt that he had made a mistake.

Maybe this 50% is not only half sure, but 0.5?

After all, with the current aerospace technology that humans have developed, it is difficult for him to imagine how to do this.

You must know that it is a planet, a complete planet.

It is no exaggeration to say that if we want to complete the transformation of it with human power, it is like a cricket shaking a tree, Kuafu chasing the sun, and overestimating our own capabilities.

Even if Mars is much smaller than the Earth, in the face of a planet-level existence, even if all the nuclear weapons currently available to mankind are used, it will only scratch its itch.

Opposite the sofa, Xu Chuan smiled and said: "50% certainty has prerequisites. For example, the core of Mars has not completely cooled, and it can at least cause a certain degree of geological activity."

"If the core of Mars has completely cooled down, I don't have any way to reactivate it."

"In addition, the mantle structure, gravity system, soil structure, etc. of Mars require further investigation."

"If any of these conditions, for which detailed data has not yet been obtained, does not meet the requirements for transformation, the feasibility of terraforming Mars will be greatly reduced."

After a pause, he continued: "But if all the conditions are really right, the feasibility is indeed not low."

As he said that, Xu Chuan smiled and joked: "Of course, whether it can be passed through depends on whether Martian will give him face."

Hearing this, Chang Huaxiang also smiled, his eyes immediately fell on the report documents on the coffee table, and asked:

"Judging from this planning report, it seems that you are more inclined to terraform Mars through the impact of meteorites and asteroids on Mars?"

Xu Chuan nodded and said with a smile: "Well, hitting Mars through meteorites and asteroids can not only activate the core of Mars in this way, but also greatly enhance the magnetic field."

"It can also create a large amount of dust on the surface of Mars and stimulate carbon dioxide in the soil, thereby quickly increasing the temperature of Mars in a relatively short period of time and simultaneously enhancing the magnetic field and atmosphere of Mars."

"In addition, large-scale meteorite or asteroid impact activities can also stimulate the Mars mantle to a certain extent, causing it to restart volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and other geological activities."

"These activities can further release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfide, and water vapor contained in the Martian soil."

"In addition, compared to other options, this should be the simplest way in theory."

"And its impact on the immigration to Mars is not very big. We only need to complete the preliminary transformation work and make sure that the magnetic field, atmosphere, water resources and other indicators have reached the predetermined standards. Then after waiting for a period of time, we can continue to build a fully enclosed Mars city. Immigration is also possible.”

"In the subsequent time, adjustments to the Martian atmosphere, changes in the soil environment, etc. can all be carried out slowly along with the immigration."

"According to my expectations, if everything goes well, the initial transformation of the Martian magnetic field and atmosphere using meteorites and asteroids should be completed within ten years."

"ten years?"

Hearing this number, Chang Huaxiang gasped again: "Are you sure?"

"certainly!"

Xu Chuan smiled and nodded, saying: "I calculated this time based on the current data and the standard transformation index."

"This is a delicate job, and we must ensure that each round of meteorite and asteroid impacts can achieve the desired effect."

"If it's a simple bombing, I can shorten this time to five years."

"But simply bombing Mars doesn't mean much to us. After all, the purpose of meteorite impact is to activate the core of Mars."

Chang Huaxiang took a deep breath, looked at Xu Chuan and asked, "Even if the method you mentioned is feasible, how are you going to transport meteorites and asteroids?"

"You must know that the volume and mass of a meteorite that can pull fluctuations in the core of Mars will probably not be small."

Although there is enough material in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, it is a very troublesome matter no matter what aspect you consider.

For example, the distance between Mars and the asteroid belt is farther than the distance from the Earth.

The distance between the two is approximately 2.17-3.64 astronomical units, while the distance between Mars and Earth is only 0.38 to 2.67 astronomical units.

This means that even at their closest approach, the distance between Mars and the asteroid belt is greater than the distance between Earth and Mars most of the time.

It can be imagined how difficult it is to transport meteorites from such a long distance.

Not only the distance, but also how to stop the meteorites that meet the requirements in the asteroid belt, or turn them to fly to Mars, is also a huge problem.

Don’t think that meteorites in the asteroid belt just sit quietly in space, just like rocks sitting on the ground, just waiting for you to pick up a truck to haul them.

Meteorites and asteroids in the asteroid belt, under the influence of the sun, even a grain of dust are 'sprinting' through space at extremely high speeds.

These fragmented meteorites and asteroids not only orbit the sun at high speed, but are also carried by the sun around the center of the Milky Way at a higher speed.

To change their trajectory and stably transport them to Mars orbit for storage is probably even more difficult than the manned mission they are currently undertaking.

Because in theory, if you want to pull the core of Mars through meteorite impact and make it active again, the overall mass and speed of the meteorite must reach a certain level.

Just like the huge meteorite that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs on the earth 65 million years ago, it was at least ten kilometers in diameter.

Meteorites with a diameter of more than ten kilometers, even the most common rock-based meteorites, weigh at least trillions of tons.

If you have no idea about this weight, you can refer to modern aircraft carriers.

The official weight of the aircraft carrier Haixi, which was launched two years ago after being renovated, is more than 80,000 tons.

If a meteorite with a diameter of ten kilometers weighs five trillion tons, its tonnage is equivalent to at least 60 million aircraft carriers.

With such an exaggerated weight, even in the vacuum of the universe, if you want to make it deviate from the orbit and relatively stagnant, you need a lot of means.

To be honest, Chang Huaxiang felt that he really couldn't think of any way to do this.

Of course, compared to the Earth, Mars has a smaller mass and volume.

This means that the mass of the meteorite required to impact and pull the core is much smaller than that of the Earth. However, even if Mars is smaller, if the energy generated by the impact is to be used to pull the core of Mars to cause fluctuations, the mass of the meteorite will not be as low as Where to go.

Even if it were ten times smaller than the meteorite that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, its mass would have reached an astonishing 500 billion tons!

The world's tallest Burj Khalifa has a total weight of only about 1.2 million tons.

One kilometer of meteorite is equivalent to at least more than 40,000 Burj Khalifa.

Controlling such an exaggerated weight, even in space, is almost impossible with humankind's current technology.

To be honest, he really couldn't think of any way Xu Chuan could solve this problem.