Although Hawking has lost his British citizenship, the Queen and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom still sent letters of blessing to him, and also sent letters of thanks to Jiang Chen. Although relations with Europe are gradually deteriorating, the Future People Group has unexpectedly gained the friendship of Britain.
Perhaps it is because of historical factors, or perhaps the Rothschild family's control over their hometown in England is not as strong as it once was, or perhaps it is just because of a certain old man who is well-known in the scientific community.
Jiang Chen did not charge Hawking for the surgery, but instead asked him to join the University of Cologne as a professor of physics. Although under Jiang Chen's money offensive, Cologne University has hired a large number of outstanding teachers from all over the world, except for Raphael Leif, the 17th president of MIT, there really is no reputation here. Top professors enough to be posted on admissions ads.
The arrival of Hawking undoubtedly solved this problem. Because of his joining, the influence of Coro University has been abruptly raised by more than one level.
Of course, Jiang Chen cured Hawking's ALS not just to advertise future human beings and to put up a sign for Cologne University. These are secondary. What he really values is Hawking's achievements in the field of cosmic research.
The day after he recovered, Jiang Chen went to Coro Central Hospital again to find him. After asking his wife and children to avoid him, he explained his purpose of coming.
"Asteroid mining plan?" Hawking frowned slightly.
"We have noticed your research on the Bennu asteroid and your prediction that it will collide with the Earth in 2135. If you can provide us with research information on this asteroid, it will help. Very busy." Jiang Chen said.
In fact, Hawking's achievements as a prophet are far less outstanding than his achievements in physics and cosmology. Like a series of predictions he had made before, this prediction that the Bennu asteroid would collide with the Earth in 2135 also failed to materialize... because as early as the beginning of the 22nd century, this asteroid with a diameter of about 500 meters was It was completely mined by NATO.
In terms of aerospace technology, NATO is a little further ahead than NATO in the apocalypse, and it is also very cautious about keeping related technologies confidential.
The Pan-Asian Cooperation's library database does not record detailed information about the Bennu asteroid, such as its most critical orbit. However, in the database compiled by the technicians at Camp 27, Jiang Chen accidentally discovered relevant models of asteroid capture technology.
According to Lin Ling’s description, the Bennu asteroid was one of the earliest asteroids to be captured and one of the easiest to capture. Using this asteroid to perform surgery is undoubtedly a perfect training tool for the star ring trade where aerospace technology is in its "nascent stage"!
However, after hearing Jiang Chen's plan, Hawking became extremely worried.
"Have you thought about the disaster of mining failure?"
"The asteroid Bennu orbits extremely close to the Earth. When it crosses the Earth's orbit every 6 years, we can even 'see' it from the Earth. If your mining almost slows it down, causing it to be The only result of gravity capture is to directly collide with the earth! Have you considered the consequences?" Hawking looked at Jiang Chen and said seriously.
"Of course we have considered it," Jiang Chen said with a smile, "because our plan is to slow it down, eventually be captured by the gravity of the Earth-Moon system, and stay still within the Earth-Moon system, at a height lower than the moon's orbit, together with the moon. Orbiting the Earth. Our scientists have calculated the best orbit to 'store' the asteroid,"
Huo Jin looked at Jiang Chen speechlessly, and then spoke after a long while.
"Either you are a genius or a madman. If you miscalculate a decimal point, all mankind will be buried with your mistake."
"I am honored to receive this honor, but such an accident is impossible to happen." Jiang Chen said with a smile, "I swear, my plan is foolproof."
His turbid eyes stared straight at Jiang Chen. After a long silence, Hawking finally sighed.
"Although I want to stop you, I'm afraid I don't have that ability at all. If it can increase the success rate of your plan, feel free to take my research results on the Bennu asteroid. In addition, although spacecraft and mining It’s not a field I’m good at, but if it’s a field related to cosmology and there’s anything you can do for me, just tell me.”
After hearing what Hawking said, Jiang Chen smiled and nodded.
"Thank you for your understanding. Speaking of which, besides the Bennu asteroid, I have a more important thing that I need your help with."
"what's up?"
"In an experiment, our scientists accidentally observed a particle from the high-dimensional universe... We call it the Crane particle. It contains some mysteries related to time, black holes and other cosmic phenomena, but unfortunately , we have very little value for it. If you are interested, I hope you can participate in related research."
…
As early as the beginning of the year, Jiang Chen had plans to capture this asteroid with extremely rich mineral reserves. Although it was not made public due to various practical problems, the related preparations have never stopped. For example, developing and building mining rockets, designing capture plans, etc...
The asteroid capture plan will be divided into three steps, namely landing, netting and towing.
The so-called landing is to launch a mining spacecraft, accelerate to the same orbit as the asteroid, and then land on the surface of the asteroid to start construction.
The weaving net is to weave a "net" that is strong enough to wrap the outer shell of the asteroid with a diameter of about 500 meters. The material of choice is naturally graphene. Both in terms of toughness and strength, this material is very suitable for weaving this giant web.
The last step is traction, which is also the most difficult and critical link. It involves quite complex mathematical problems. In addition, according to the estimates of the Space Launch Center, in order to complete the artificial orbit change of the asteroid, decelerate it and capture it into a safe orbit by the Earth-Moon system, at least eight rocket engines are required to be deployed at the end of the trawl, and through the ignition, flameout sequence and The speed difference is used to control the orbital trajectory of the asteroid.
If you are not careful, the asteroid will leave the earth forever at least, or it will hit the earth hard. The star ring trade can only reduce the ecological impact caused by the "Bennu" asteroid by blowing up the asteroid. disaster.
If it weren't for the quantum computer responsible for data processing, Jiang Chen wouldn't have dared to implement such a complex project.
And even with quantum computers as data processing tools and a few records about the Bennu asteroid in the apocalypse, there are still many uncertainties in this project. As Hawking said, the person who made this decision was either a genius or a complete lunatic.
But the first step must be taken after all.
Therefore, after repeatedly reviewing Kerwin's plan, Jiang Chen neatly signed his name on the document and approved the implementation of the plan. In order to avoid unnecessary consequences, Jiang Chen did not report to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in accordance with the procedures. Instead, he launched five mining rockets into space under the guise of building a "large space station."
The Bennu asteroid has already moved close to the Earth and will cross the Earth's orbit at the end of December. It will be the best time to complete the last step of the asteroid capture plan - "orbit change". If you miss it, you will have to wait another six years.
In order to seize this once-in-six-year opportunity, the asteroid capture plan will be carried out simultaneously with the space elevator! (.)