Great Country Academician

If it were on the earth, it would be almost impossible to transport a meteorite with a diameter of one kilometer based on current human technology.

Because it's just too heavy.

Even the most common bedrock meteorites have a mass of at least 500 billion tons in a solid state.

However, if you want to transport meteorites of this level in space, although it is a little more difficult, there are still ways.

As early as 2015, NASA announced a plan called the "Asteroid Redirect Mission."

That is, an unmanned spacecraft is used to collect a boulder from the surface of a larger asteroid, and then moved to the vicinity of the moon for astronauts to sample and study.

Although this asteroid redirection mission was ultimately abandoned by NASA, it designed a complete "star catching" plan and planned the costs.

The first is to collect a boulder from the surface of a larger asteroid as mentioned above.

The second option is to capture an asteroid as a whole, with a budget of US$1.25 billion.

Robert Lightfoot, deputy administrator of NASA at the time, said at a media conference that day that NASA would decide which asteroid to target in 2019, launch an unmanned spacecraft in December 2020, and target the asteroid by 2025. Drag it near the orbit of the moon or the earth and keep it in a relatively stable orbit.

For NASA, the 'Asteroid Redirect Mission' is not only about testing defense technologies to prevent asteroids from hitting the Earth, it will also usher in a new era of space flight and test the performance of newly designed spacesuits in deep space environments. .

Theoretically, this is a very ‘futuristic’ and ‘valuable’ task.

However, as the U.S. economy continued to slump after 2015 and was affected by the rise of China, this plan was ultimately unable to be implemented.

But this also confirms from the side that Xu Chuan’s proposal of capturing meteorites and asteroids to impact Mars to create a magnetic field and atmosphere is completely feasible, at least in terms of capturing asteroids.

His eyes fell on the report document on the coffee table. Xu Chuan leaned forward to pick it up, flipped through the document, and explained with a smile.

"It is not difficult to capture an asteroid and transport it to the orbit of Mars. At least for the requirements of impacting Mars as I envision it, it is completely feasible."

As he spoke, he looked at Academician Chang Huaxiang sitting opposite, smiled and asked, "I wonder, Mr. Chang, if you have ever seen a movie called 'The Wandering Earth'."

Hearing this question, Chang Huaxiang reacted instantly and asked with some surprise: "Are you going to refer to the setting in the movie and build a huge planetary engine to drive and control meteorites or asteroids?"

Xu Chuan nodded slightly and said with a smile: "Theoretically, this is indeed one of the feasible solutions."

"Although it is impossible to use a planetary engine to push the earth to Proxima Centauri, even if the engine has powerful thrust, the earth's crust cannot withstand such an exaggerated thrust."

"But if it is used on small-mass meteorites or asteroids, it is completely feasible."

"A miniaturized fusion reactor is completely enough to be used as the energy core to push meteorites to deviate from their orbits. Theoretically, it is completely feasible to make meteorites in the asteroid belt deviate from the meteorite belt and fly towards Mars as long as the orbit is calculated."

"And from a technical perspective, it's not very difficult."

"The only problem is how to brake."

"After all, every target meteorite and asteroid is moving in the universe at an extremely high speed. Taking into account its own speed, mass and other issues, they should be 'relatively stopped' in space close to Mars at the right time. It’s something that requires precise calculation.”

On the sofa, Academician Chang Huaxiang thought carefully and said, "According to this statement, it is indeed possible to transport meteorites or asteroids of suitable quality."

"But it may be harder than you think to achieve it."

"First of all, it is very difficult to select meteorites or asteroids from the asteroid belt that are relatively stable and suitable in size, mass, and properties."

"Although the asteroid belt is a meteorite-dense area, with more than 500,000 asteroids and meteorites gathered, the material in the asteroid belt is actually very thin. With current detection technology, if we want to accurately find the required asteroids It’s very difficult.”

"Especially asteroids used for Mars transformation have higher requirements on their own properties."

After a slight pause, he looked at Xu Chuan and asked with a frown.

"Also, how are you going to do construction on these asteroids?"

"Not only are the asteroids in the asteroid belt moving at high speeds, but many of them also have rotation behavior."

"These asteroids in motion and rotation are extremely unstable and can easily lose control due to external interference."

"At the same time, the environment on an asteroid is extremely harsh, and construction is more difficult than on the moon."

"If you want to deploy a propeller on it, I'm afraid it will be more difficult."

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "The detection problem is actually quite easy to solve. The current astronomical telescopes are enough to detect these asteroids."

"The asteroid numbering data from the International Astronomical Society can be screened, and a group of relatively suitable S·silicate asteroids and M·metallic asteroids can be selected as the first batch of investigation objects."

"Later, I will arrange for the Shu Space Base to launch a batch of probes to the asteroid belt for close inspection to understand these targets in more detail."

"As for how to construct."

"This is indeed a huge problem. My idea is to develop intelligent robots."

After thinking for a while, Xu Chuan continued: "Compared with astronauts, intelligent robots have more advantages in space."

"They can fix themselves on asteroids in various ways and are not affected by the outside world during the construction process."

"In addition, if the difficulty of construction is considered, combined construction can be considered."

"By extending the required propulsion engine on the earth or the moon, assembling it into splicing parts similar to building blocks, and then transporting it directly to the asteroid belt by space shuttle, and then assembling it."

"Compared with traditional construction methods, this construction plan is easier, and the gravity-free space environment can also carry out large-scale parts transportation and assembly."

"Overall, although it is difficult, it is not completely impossible."

In fact, in addition to autonomous intelligent robots, he has another choice.

That is the virtual reality technology that Xu Xiao is studying.

Through remote control, engineers can control the mechanical equipment on the asteroid from the space shuttle in a more stable environment.

However, this option was not in Xu Chuan's initial plan.

On the one hand, virtual reality technology is not yet capable of this technology, and there is still a long way to go before it can fully transmit brain waves to control complex mechanical equipment in real time.

On the other hand, long-term construction in space will have a certain impact on the health of engineers and astronauts.

And if there are unexpected situations during the construction process, meteorites or asteroids may deviate from their orbits, causing damage to the space shuttle and endangering the lives of the people on it.

After all, it is in the asteroid belt. Even if the materials inside are quite sparse from a human perspective, there are still many meteorite collisions in the asteroid belt every year.

Especially under the influence of the gravity of Jupiter and Mars, the orbits of meteorites in the asteroid belt are not so fixed.

So in contrast, fully automated intelligent mechanical equipment is more in line with his choice.

On the other side, the headquarters building of Xinghai Research Institute.

Looking back at this extremely mysterious research institute in the eyes of Americans, Qualcomm's vice president William Thompson's eyes were full of complexity.

For him, today was definitely the most "humble" time he had in front of these Chinese people, and it was also the most "humble" time for Qualcomm.

Of course, this is what he thought.

As early as when Xu Chuan published the two papers on carbon-based chips in the journal "Exploration", Qualcomm keenly noticed that the era of silicon-based chips might undergo major changes.

After they asked people to make an overall evaluation of the two papers related to carbon-based chips at the first time, they believed that Xinghai Research Institute was very likely to have a major breakthrough in carbon-based chip technology.

After holding an internal meeting, they quickly contacted Xinghai Research Institute and made an appointment for a visit, hoping to learn more about the situation with the carbon-based chip laboratory to see if there was an opportunity for cooperation or investment.

At that time, Xinghai Research Institute agreed to their request for a visit without hesitation, and they were very happy, thinking that Qualcomm was very influential even in China.

As a result, no one expected that Xinghai Research Institute would arrange their visit request today, which is the day after the carbon-based chip product launch conference.

Originally, they thought it would be best to participate in the technical research and development of carbon-based chips, cooperate with China in the field of carbon-based semiconductors, and occupy certain investment technology shares and voice.

However, a product launch conference completely disrupted all their ideas.

In the field of carbon-based chips, China has not only made major breakthroughs, but also directly manufactured products that are fully commercially available.

Even in the field of memory chips, the first generation of Longzang memory chip series launched almost completely crushed the high-end products of storage giant Micron Technology.

This sudden news not only shocked everyone at the scene, but also shocked the world, and even forced him to urgently contact the headquarters to modify the content of the visit and exchange.

After all, judging from the on-site situation of the carbon-based chip product launch conference, they no longer have any possibility of cooperating with China in the field of carbon-based semiconductors to occupy certain investment technology shares and voice.

The other party has even prepared finished chips and almost solved all technical problems. How could they be allowed to participate and get shares and voice?

Even if you use your toes to think about it, you know that this is impossible.

So after the product launch of the carbon-based chip, his purpose has changed.

No longer trying to participate in the R\u0026D process and make advance investments, but to find a way to cooperate with Xinghai Research Institute.

If he can get the preparation technology of carbon-based chips, it would be great.

If he can't do this, he must at least get the authorization from the other party or have a preliminary discussion on the possibility of cooperation.

In the coming era of carbon-based chips, Qualcomm cannot and will not continue to hold on to the sinking ship of silicon-based chips.

Even giving up their dominant position in the field of silicon-based chips will cause them heavy losses, or even start all over again.

But in order to survive, they must make a decision at the first time.

So William Thompson's mission is to hope to cooperate with Xinghai Research Institute.

Compared with previous business talks, his authority this time is amazingly large.

If he can obtain the preparation technology of carbon-based chips, the headquarters will even allow him to exchange Qualcomm's core, the "baseband technology" that is the lifeblood of countless mobile phone manufacturers.

However, in the conference room just now, he just tried to propose this idea, and was directly rejected by the man opposite who looked gentle and elegant with glasses.

The other party's simple words made him speechless.

In the era of carbon-based chips, what technology can you show off?

The chip technology that they are proud of in the era of silicon-based semiconductors, and the patent barriers built around silicon-based chips, are not worth mentioning in the face of the wheel of the times.

Let alone Qualcomm, even the United States can hardly find an important technology that can be compared with carbon-based chip preparation technology.

Energy?

China is the first country to master the controllable nuclear fusion technology. Their electricity and high-voltage power grid not only radiate the entire Southeast Asian peninsula. Even the United States now has to beg them to help build fusion power stations.

Chips?

China has achieved a leapfrog breakthrough in carbon-based chip technology. Their advanced technology in the field of silicon-based chips has lost most of its value now.

Perhaps the top ultraviolet lithography machine still has a certain value now, but at the product launch conference, the president of SMIC also showed them the technology that can completely bypass the lithography machine to carve and process chips.

It is no exaggeration to say that even in the United States, there is no technology that can trade carbon-based chip technology equally now.

After all, the four words "carbon-based chips" represent a brand new era.

If Qualcomm wants to survive, the only choice is to put down its posture and stand from the perspective of the middle and lower reaches to help carbon-based chips spread to the world.

Perhaps only by doing so can it get some support from the Chinese.

However, this decision is not something he, a vice president, can make.

More importantly, when he came out of the headquarters of Xinghai Research Institute, he also saw people from Intel and AMD.

There is no doubt that this is an organized exchange meeting in China.

Xinghai Research Institute, which has mastered carbon-based chip technology, looks down on the entire silicon-based semiconductor industry from a high position.

Even if Qualcomm wants to lower its profile and cooperate from the perspective of the middle and lower reaches, it may need to compete with other peers for this opportunity.

They may not even be able to get this opportunity that they originally looked down on.

For William Thompson, this is definitely the most desperate day in his nearly 20 years at Qualcomm.