As Blacklight Technology announced the news that Ares was about to set sail, those who had been worried about mankind seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and those who did not care about the development of science and technology also learned about it under the guidance of major media After hearing this news, Blacklight Technology suddenly became popular in the world again. It even ranked in the top ten on Sina Weibo's hot search list!
Sina Weibo hot search rankings:
1. Xiao Zhan’s finger was scratched—the heat was 100 million.
2. Zheng Jie’s toilet is clogged—the heat is 60 million.
3. Follow the light, brother—45 million hits.
4. EXO came out collectively—30 million hits.
…
10. Blacklight Technology is about to set foot on Mars—it’s very popular.
In the Ares Project, in addition to the Ares manned spacecraft landing on Mars, there is also a registration event for the Ares Project at the end of the video. After these people follow the website click given at the end of the video, they will find that I came to a page on the official website of Black Light Technology, and the top line was the same line of big words -
The Ares Project colonist registration event officially opens on July 1, 2028!
Below this line is an electronic application form, which contains name, age, education, occupation, etc., and anyone can fill it out.
If this application form is selected, there will be a call from the local Blacklight Technology branch in the next period of time, inviting applicants to go there for an interview.
If you are lucky enough to succeed in the interview, then this person will be eligible to immigrate to Mars when the Mars colony is established in a few years.
According to the description, Blacklight Technology will recruit 10,000 people as the first residents of a permanent colony on Mars. With the nuclear fusion engine capabilities of Als, they can reach Mars in just one week.
This speed is of almost epochal significance compared with the past. The various Mars probes launched by humans in the past required a long voyage of at least half a year to reach Mars.
Now it has increased by 25 times. This is not the limit of the inertial confinement fusion engine. It can only be regarded as the initial stage at best. After tens or hundreds of years, humans are expected to be able to upgrade the spacecraft to the level of sub-light speed.
But even now, a week's sailing time is not much different from a sea cruise.
This registration activity immediately aroused the interest of many people. In Western societies, influenced by Western education, most people have a unique and adventurous spirit. In Eastern societies, although there are not as many people in the West, those who pursue science and technology Young people living in daily life are also signing up one after another.
At the same time, Blacklight Technology even promised that after becoming the first batch of Mars colonists, the colonists will be equivalent to having the status of Blacklight Technology employees, and each person's monthly salary will reach tens of thousands of dollars. This is just the basic salary. , not counting task bonuses and subsidies.
After becoming the first batch of colonists, the colonists will also enjoy a lot of benefits. Even real estate, food and drink will be taken care of by Blacklight Technology for free. If they get married and have children on Mars, even their descendants will receive free but high-quality food. Elite Education.
This extremely generous condition made countless people excited. In just one day, millions of people filled out the registration form.
However, there is a threshold for becoming a colonist. Because of the emergence of XTN robots and bionic humans, colonies do not actually need low-end labor. From sanitation and cleaning to planting and industry, there are automated robots to complete it. Blacklight Technology only Talents with special skills will be recruited.
Such as mechanical maintenance, program development, engineers, designers, and various scientific researchers, etc. Therefore, most white-collar and blue-collar workers are destined to miss the first batch of colonists.
Late at night, in a room on the outskirts of Chongzhou City, Zhongzhou District, a man with a stubble on his face and a haggard expression was holding a cigarette and silently looking at the computer screen in front of him.
On the computer, it is the immigration application form on the Blacklight Technology website interface—
Name: Wang Wei, Gender: Male, Age: 27 years old, Student status: Department of Biological Sciences, Haizhou Jiaotong University...
There were no lights on in the room he was in. The whole room was dark and gray, with only the computer screen shining with white light, which made the man's face look a little pale.
He looked at the promotional video of Blacklight Technology on the screen, but his eyes gradually became blank, as if he was recalling something.
In the smoke, the man's memory seemed to fly back seven or eight years ago, recalling his time in college.
I don't know how much time passed, but a burning smell suddenly came from the corner of his mouth, and the man was brought back to reality. He hurriedly took off the cigarette butt and put it out in the almost full ashtray beside him.
Then, he pulled the completed form to the bottom of the web page, and then moved the mouse to the "Submit" button at the end, but he seemed unable to make up his mind to press the button.
At this moment, there was a burst of footsteps approaching from far outside the house.
After hearing the footsteps, the man quickly switched the table so that the desktop image appeared on the computer.
Immediately, a heavy door opened, and a mean-looking woman in pajamas appeared at the door.
As soon as the woman entered the door, she immediately asked about the smell of cigarette smoke. She fanned her fan with some disgust, and then said loudly, "Smoking again, smoking again, smoking all day long, and I can't get promoted in my position. I will give it to my family in a month." What can you do with those few thousand yuan? Let me and your son drink the northwest wind?"
The man slowly turned his head after hearing this, and said with a cold expression, "I know, I..."
But before she finished speaking, the woman suddenly came to the computer. She grabbed the man's mouse and clicked on the interface at the bottom. The website of Blacklight Technology was immediately revealed.
"what are you doing?"
The man couldn't help but frown.
"Haha, you are watching this kind of news again. Didn't you say you want to work overtime?"
The woman sneered, "I have been unlucky for eight lifetimes to follow you. You want money and you don't want to make progress. At the beginning, you kept bragging that you and the founder of Blacklight Technology were in the same dormitory and had such a good relationship. Wear a pair of pants, but now that he is so prosperous, you don’t even remember him, and you don’t want to contact him even though you have his phone number. You said that if you could get a full-time official position at Blacklight Technology, we two would be more prosperous. Is not it?"
"Have you said enough?"
The man took a deep breath and asked, suppressing the anger in his heart.
"What, you're afraid that I'll tell you if you don't have the ability?"
The woman continued to sneer, "If your mother hadn't been seriously ill last year, spent all the family money and owed a lot of debt, how could I have been forced to live in such a shabby house? It would have been a good thing if I didn't divorce you. Now How dare you be impatient with me?"
Hearing this, the man's originally rising flame suddenly extinguished. This matter has always been his weakness.
“Now I have to borrow the money for my child’s milk powder!”
The woman continued, "I don't know where the money will come from when my child goes to kindergarten next year. It's a good thing for you. Now you're still pumping all day long, so you know how to pump!"
After some insults, the woman saw the man lower his head and then turned around and left.
Listening to the other party's departure, the man smiled silently. He no longer hesitated, dragged the page to the bottom again, and pressed the "Submit" button!
Click!
With the click of the mouse, the interface suddenly flashed and turned into the words "You have submitted successfully".
"Chenzi, I will hang out with you from now on!"
There was a heavy look in the man's eyes and he murmured softly.
…
Following the announcement released by Blacklight Technology, more than 10 million people filled out the application form within one day. Although most of them were ordinary professionals, there were also many valuable researchers and even some well-known scientific circles. Dana also filled out the registration form and publicly declared that he hoped to become the first colonists in human history and contribute to the progress of mankind.
And it doesn’t mean that you can’t return to the earth after becoming a colonist. Blacklight Technology also promises that the colonists will still retain the citizenship of their respective continents. After the colony is established, flight routes between the two places will be completely opened. In the distant future, travel between Earth and Mars will become as common as taking a plane, and colonists can resign and return to Earth at any time.
Since the creation of the Mars colonization plan, the tensions that have gripped the world over resources and land for hundreds of years have subtly eased, and people are enjoying themselves.
After all, outer space has unlimited resources and space. After having a channel for catharsis, the four continents are not willing to continue to consume themselves for this one-third of the earth. Instead, while continuing to develop nuclear fusion reactors, they have set their sights on Move to the starry sky above your head.
According to a current buzzword: Our goal is the sea of stars!
So, amidst great expectations, on August 1, 2028 AD, the Ares manned spacecraft officially set off, flying into the sky with the hope of mankind and that dazzling light, flying out of the atmosphere, and flying To the distant Mars!
In this expedition to Mars, there are three people from each of the four continents on the team, which occupies 12 places on the spacecraft, and the remaining four places are employees of Blacklight Technology.
At the same time, the Ares spacecraft also carried two hundred tons of building materials and living supplies, a hundred XTN engineering robots of various types, fifty bionic humans, and several special drones.
Although the air density on Mars is extremely low, only about one percent of Earth's, Mars' gravity is only two-fifths of Earth's. According to scientists' calculations, if a drone is sent there, it would be very difficult to fly there with the help of modern materials. And battery technology has a chance to fly.
In order to obtain detailed data, scientists from Blacklight Technology also built a test machine, which was a space simulator.
In order to get as close to the Martian environment as possible, scientists first took out the air in the simulator, and then put in a small amount of carbon dioxide to achieve the same composition as the Martian atmosphere.
As for the gravity part, scientists used a wire to pull it with a specific force from above to "reduce" it.
So it was finally tested that drones can fly on Mars, and after technical adjustments, they can fly higher and faster than on Earth.
Under the nuclear engine, Ares only flew for a week. When the seventh day arrived, a huge orange-red planet had appeared on the bridge window, even occupying most of the field of view.
At the same time, all the scientists in the cabin felt a slight force of gravity. Whether they were eating or floating, all objects tended to drift forward.
And as time goes by, this sense of gravity becomes stronger and stronger.
At this time, in the bridge, a group of scientists were breathing heavily and staring at the behemoth in front of them. If there was a Guinness World Record at this time, then their group would have successfully broken the record for the furthest human step, because at this time They have come to a distance of more than 100 million kilometers from the earth.
Here is a strange world that humans have never set foot in...
"Everyone, please be patient. With AI control, we can easily log in, just like we did when we left the earth."
The captain of Ares and a researcher at Blacklight Technology suddenly spoke up and said jokingly, "This time we will land at the south pole of Mars - UltimiScopuli, although it is much colder than the South Pole of the Earth. , the temperature is about minus 70 degrees to minus 139 degrees, but don’t worry, we will wear thick clothes.”
"Sorry, that's not what I'm worried about."
A 40-year-old European scientist shrugged, "What I'm worried about now is, is there really enough water for us to bathe in the South Pole of Mars? You know, I have been extremely dirty these past seven days... "
"Hahaha!"
Everyone burst out laughing.
"Don't worry, the polar cap of Mars is composed of ice and solid carbon dioxide. Previous detections have confirmed that there is a large amount of liquid water under the ice cap. Even if there is no liquid, we can turn the ice into water for you to bathe."
Although he knew it was a joke, the captain still said responsibly, "So you don't need to worry about taking a hot bath."
As everyone was chatting, an electronically synthesized female voice suddenly came from the spacecraft, "Every crew member, please be prepared. The Ares manned spacecraft has entered the gravitational range of Mars. In the next twelve hours, we will It will merge into Mars' low-Earth orbit and land at UltimiScopuli in the South Pole."
"In order to prevent any accidents from happening, from now on, everyone please wear spacesuits and enter the rescue capsule. Thank you for your cooperation!"
Following these words from the Ares intelligent system, everyone bumped fists with each other, said "See you on Mars", and then left the bridge one by one.