Recently, the Internet has been flooded with space elevators, and attention to the Bennu asteroid has not generated enough enthusiasm.
From the beginning of doomsday theories in 2000 to the ordinary Christmas of 2012, people have been baptized by all kinds of strange doomsday theories and have become calm.
Even if Jiang Chen stood in front of the media seriously and told them that there was a colonial ship from the stars, flying from 20.5 light-years away to the solar system for almost a century, people would probably smile at most and give this extremely wealthy director Add a few tags like "humor" and "love to tell cold jokes".
Thanks to this, although the voices protesting against the irresponsible trade of Star Ring are harsh, they are not strong.
However, this does not mean that some countries will give up using this as an entry point to make irresponsible remarks on the "space hegemony" that the star ring trade is forming.
For example, the United States, their small partner the European Union, and Latin American countries.
The ESA first protested against New Zealand's "irresponsible" behavior and asked New Zealand to explain the incident at the United Nations General Assembly in September this year.
China only expressed that it is paying close attention to the progress of this incident and believes that the new Congress will properly handle the issue of the Bennu asteroid. Considering the recent cooperation with Halo Trade on the microgravity laboratory project, China's diplomatic rhetoric is relatively mild, but it is obvious that it has pulled the Bennu asteroid into the world without the knowledge of the international community. There is some dissatisfaction in the Earth-Moon system.
The United States' wording is quite tough, requiring New Zealand to immediately produce evidence proving the safety of the Bennu asteroid, otherwise NASA will begin studying plans to destroy the Bennu asteroid in outer space.
When he heard the trouble mentioned by Zhang Yaping, Jiang Chen suddenly laughed out loud and said disdainfully.
"Destroy? Where can I let them destroy it, but they can destroy it?"
Landing on an asteroid is much more difficult than landing on the moon, and it is even more difficult to transport enough explosives to blast it. Jiang Chen certainly believed that NASA had the ability to calculate the orbit of the asteroid, and also believed that X had the ability to send explosives there.
but!
Send dozens of tons of special explosives up there and install them? Just that toothpick from Falcon 9? If 10% of the US's annual military expenditure is transferred to x, and they are given another two years to study the plan and two years to implement the plan, Jiang Chen believes that they may really have hope of blowing up the Bennu asteroid.
Anyway, his space elevator will not help deliver explosives.
Jiang Chen's reply to Zhang Yaping was also very simple.
"The solution to this problem is just one word, procrastination."
"We have already started the mining plan in advance, and the edited video of asteroid mining will be released soon."
"Aren't they worried about being hit on the head by an asteroid? Then let them take a closer look at the gap between indigenous people and civilized people. When they see our ability to attack asteroids, they won't be so suspicious. ”
"I have to go to Futureman Mining to do some business later, so I'll hang up first."
…
In the Pentagon, William James, wearing a Marine Corps uniform, was led by a female civilian secretary to the door of a conference room.
Not long after he returned to Washington from Coro Island, his superiors sent a special car to come here almost as soon as he got off the plane.
The female secretary nodded slightly to him, opened the conference room door for him, and then stepped aside.
James said thank you and walked in. When he saw the people in the conference room clearly, the expression on his face was suddenly surprised.
It is impossible for him not to know Bolden, the black director of NASA. In this country with serious racial discrimination, black people who can reach the ministerial level are heroes or idols worshiped by African immigrants like them. Sitting next to Bolden was Anthony Kerrigan, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a thin white man with a hooked nose and freckles.
Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, referred to as darpa. This incredible department also has another nickname, and that is "S.H.I.E.L.D."
As for the two people sitting in the first place, that's even more incredible.
One is the current Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, and the other is US President Hillary Clinton.
Taking a deep breath, William James was about to give a military salute to his immediate superior, but Mr. Carter had no intention of talking nonsense with him and spoke impatiently.
"Mr. James, we want to hear what you saw in Halo City."
Of course, William James would not refuse. The reason why the U.S. government sent the Marine Corps captain to attend the opening ceremony was to gather intelligence.
The black soldier nodded, swallowed and spoke.
"After about a five-hour flight, we arrived at the synchronous orbiting space station, which is the Halo City."
"It's slower than a rocket." Mr. Kerrigan lowered his voice and said next to Hillary. "Our Falcon rocket takes less than half an hour."
x received technical support from the Darpa department when developing the Falcon series rockets, so there is nothing wrong with Kerrigan's use of the term "our Falcon rockets". But when he said this, Bolden glanced at him, but said nothing, and looked away after two seconds.
Hillary nodded and did not speak, but continued to look at James seriously, waiting for the black soldier's next words.
"After arriving at the terminal, Star Ring Trading sent a tour guide to take us into the interior of Star Ring City."
"According to him, the entire Halo City is a ring, and the ring is also the counterweight of the space elevator. There are subways, living units, and external space stations on it... "
Having said this, William James paused, and a hint of fascination gradually appeared in his eyes.
"The most shocking thing is that they moved farmland into the space station."
All the high-ranking American officials present looked at each other in disbelief. Only Kerrigan turned his pen with disdain.
"There is also a planting unit on the International Space Station. This is not a special technology. There is nothing surprising. We saw pumpkins transported back from the International Space Station as early as ten years ago. Is there anything else besides this?"
Hillary and Ashton also nodded.
Just growing vegetables in space is not a novel technology. The United States had solved this problem in the laboratory as early as ten years ago. 14 years later, it approved the establishment of a space farm in the American section of the International Space Station, successfully growing a variety of surface plants such as cabbage and carrots.
Compared with these insignificant technologies, they are more concerned about the potential value of Star Ring City in military, economic and other aspects.
Of all the people present, only Bolden remained unmoved. After returning from the United Nations Outer Space Summit, he knew very well how advanced the aerospace technology of Star Ring Trading was.
It's not easy to contradict your boss, but William James felt that he needed to remind everyone here, so he whispered.
"But their area is two thousand acres..."
The conference room was so quiet that even a pin dropping on the ground could be clearly heard.
The spinning pen had fallen onto the notebook. Kerrigan's mouth opened slightly, closed it, and then opened it again, like a robot.
Hillary's face was expressionless, truly expressionless, because she didn't know how to express her shock.
Even Bolden's dark face changed color slightly. Even though he was well prepared, he was severely shocked by the generosity of Star Ring Trade.
Is it easy to grow vegetables in space? It's really simple.
But what about large-scale cultivation? These are completely two concepts!
An embedded space station with an area of more than 2,000 acres? Is this really called a space station
Seeing that the expression of his immediate boss, the Minister of Defense, seemed not to be good, William James hesitated and asked in a low voice: "...Do I still need to continue the report?"
"Go on." Hillary said solemnly.
Seeing Ashton nodded, William James continued.
"Most space stations are idle open spaces. We have only seen one of those two thousand acres of farmland."
Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that such a shocking thing is not that easy to build. Even with the financial resources of the Star Ring Trade, only one was built.
But then, William James' words made everyone's mood, which had finally improved, suddenly fall to the bottom. Kerrigan's jaw, which he finally closed, fell down again.
"I asked the tour guide why those open spaces were left idle instead of being planted with wheat. He told me that this external general-purpose space station has many uses, not just farming. They are planning to build houses and factories on it. Just because now The population in Star Ring City is very small, so there is no need to develop so many agricultural areas... "
At this moment, William James's speech was interrupted. A man who looked like an assistant opened the door and hurriedly walked into the conference room.
Facing the dissatisfied glances, he didn't care so much at the moment. He took out the Ai Crazy 8 mobile phone from his pocket and walked towards Hillary with a solemn expression.
"What's the matter? Mr. Eric, don't you know we are in a meeting now-"
"Star Ring Trading has made new moves! You asked me to keep an eye on them. Believe me, I definitely didn't mean to break into the conference room. Please allow me to take up three minutes of your time!"
As he spoke, the man named Eric clicked a few times on his cell phone, and then presented the phone to Hillary.
Is that a video, or something like it was edited from a science fiction film...
Hillary frowned slightly, why did the White House assistant break into the conference room to show her such a Hollywood movie. Ashton glanced at the video and didn't think much of it at first, but he didn't know if he had discovered something, and his expression soon became more exciting.
As for Bolden, who was sitting next to him, his expression froze the moment he saw the panoramic view of the asteroid.
After a while, his stiff facial muscles twitched and he spoke in a low voice.
"This is the Bennu asteroid... The video doesn't look like CG."
Hillary, who was watching it with gusto, was stunned, looked at the phone with an expression as if she had seen a ghost, and exclaimed.
"This is impossible!"
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(Today’s monthly ticket is double!) (.)