Super technology leader

Communication delays are indeed a tricky issue, as the Earth is too far from Mars.

Given the current Earth-Mars distance, even light takes ten-plus minutes for a one-way trip, making a round trip over twenty minutes.

That's just calculating pure light speed. Signals converted through various devices will be delayed even further, lengthening the communication delay time.

And this is unavoidable because it involves the laws of physics.

The much-hyped "quantum communication" can currently only achieve "quantum encryption communication," making communication information uncrackable, while the "long-distance communication" mode in science fiction works remains only in science fiction.

As for whether it can become a reality in the future, it's hard to say, but it's impossible now or in the near future.

Since this cannot be resolved now, the people at the United Nations General Assembly are not wasting time on it. They'll put it aside and address other matters first.

After all, time is tight now, unlike other regular meetings, which can be delayed. Since this "impossible" matter has been determined as unsolvable, they need to ensure that other matters are problem-free.

Aside from the temporarily unresolvable communication delay issue, the preparations made by the Pathfinder are also comprehensive. What remains is the state of the aliens.

The latest information about Mars available to the general public is temporarily not being updated, but countries with probes on Mars, especially those with orbital probes, receive real-time updates.

The United Nations has signed an information-sharing agreement, so information is also updated in real-time. Plus, there are several countries with orbital probes, all observing the alien settlement from Mars orbit. What they see is basically the same, so there is no issue of concealment.

The main problem is that the image resolution from each country is not good enough. Devices in high orbit can't even see the alien spacecraft. Even when lowered to low orbit, they can only see blurry outlines of the spacecraft, and zooming in just results in a screen full of mosaics, making it impossible to clearly see the small aliens moving around.

Therefore, the real-time updated intelligence is mostly vague reports.

"On a certain day at a certain time, no unusual activity was observed on the alien spacecraft."

"On a certain day at a certain time, the reflective area near the alien spacecraft significantly increased. It is suspected that the aliens are using spacecraft parts to build some kind of facility."

"On a certain day at a certain time, the reflective area of the alien settlement increased again. It is suspected that the aliens are modifying the spacecraft, most likely transforming it into a ground-based living facility."

This information, far from clarifying what the aliens are doing, even caused panic among some country representatives.

What if the aliens repair their spacecraft?

What if the aliens are building weapon facilities?

What if the aliens are building a massive information transmission array to summon an alien fleet?

Various "what ifs" and "what to dos" intertwined in the brains of the country representatives, making some of them a bit neurasthenic.

And today, the Pathfinder Company's "unmanned probe spacecraft" entered Mars orbit. Several hours later, the United Nations received clear photos of the alien settlement for the first time.

Although not as clear as the last video left by the Merrikan's hijacked Mars rover, it at least reached the level of Earth's "satellite maps." Now, they can see the top view of the alien spacecraft and the larger area of the spacecraft debris field.

After all, this alien spacecraft crashed; it didn't land stably. Therefore, there is a large area of debris scattered behind it, which the previous images couldn't show.

With this new data, combined with the Merrikan Mars rover's "legacy," scientists can analyze more information.

"They are indeed trying to repair their spacecraft. Look here; this is a pile of parts they cleared out from the spacecraft. According to the previous blurry images, the parts pile has decreased somewhat. Some of the relatively intact parts must have been put back."

"And over here, these should be two inflatable pressurized compartments. They need to survive inside, indicating that the damage to their spacecraft should be significant, and it may not even guarantee pressurized space."

"What is this over here? It looks like a shed built with spacecraft fragments. I don't know if it's airtight, and the Merrikan Mars rover hasn't been found. Could it be hidden under this shed?"

"No weapon-like equipment has been seen for the time being. Of course, only large ones haven't been seen. I don't know if they carry small hand-held weapons. If so, the Pathfinder Company's helicopter is still in danger."

"It's hard to say now, and their weapons may not be the weapons we commonly use. What if they use laser weapons? They can fly to the solar system, which at least proves that their technology is more advanced than ours in some aspects. Some countries have already begun to equip laser weapons. This alien spacecraft... it's hard to say it doesn't have any."

"I feel..."

After a round of analysis, there are more possible unexpected situations than imagined.

There's no way around it; human technology is at this level. Even if human technology were a bit higher, and someone was stationed on Mars, they would have a way to minimize the risk of contact.

At least the accidents caused by communication delays would be much fewer.

As long as the frontline personnel are given sufficient authority and a few scenarios are set, they can guarantee that the mission will be completed well.

Unfortunately, it can't be done. Even the strongest Interstellar Pathfinder Company can't send people to Mars immediately.

It's just that whether this time will succeed is still a big question mark.

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Seeing all the countries relying on Pathfinder's equipment to get things done, seeing Pathfinder almost becoming the real Pathfinder, Merrika couldn't sit still.

So they had to put aside their pride and privately chat with Tang Chao.

Some time later, no one knew what happened during their meeting, but Tang Chao suddenly changed his tune.

"In view of the strict requirements and significant responsibilities of this contact mission, and because Interstellar Pathfinder Company is only a private company and cannot bear this responsibility, our company has decided through internal meetings to hand over mission control to Merrika, and Merrika will be fully responsible for this contact mission..."

The representatives of all countries at the conference were shocked, especially the representative of Tianxia, whose hand holding the tea mug trembled slightly, looking at Tang Chao in disbelief.

Then he suddenly looked at the representative of Merrika and found that the other party had become a calm and composed look.

With arms crossed and a composed expression, they must have known in advance, and even glanced at their side, with an attitude that was extremely provocative.

However, the Tianxia representative knew that Pathfinder would not give up leadership for no reason, so Merrika must have paid some price, a huge price that Pathfinder Company could not refuse.

But he also knew that Merrika had never relaxed its public relations and temptation towards Interstellar Pathfinder Company. Interstellar Pathfinder Company had never accepted it before, so why did they suddenly accept it now?

Especially at this critical moment.

How critical? According to the time calculation, although the live broadcast on Earth shows that it is still flying, the helicopter on Mars has already landed and has been resting for more than ten minutes. In another ten minutes, it will take off again, and after flying for five minutes, it can reach the alien settlement.

The initial greetings are set, and they will be asked as soon as they arrive.

After all, the delay is too great. If the helicopter flies over people's heads for tens of minutes without doing anything, they will have to shoot it down.

So at this critical moment, the leadership was handed over. What is Pathfinder Company planning?