The rise of nanometers

September 19, 2030.

After a long voyage, the Jupiter Expeditionary Force finally reached the orbit of Jupiter, and the three Gonggong-class spacecraft stopped in the synchronous orbit of Jupiter.

Zhang Shuyi, the captain of the expeditionary force, stood in the observation cabin of the rotating wheel cabin, looking at Jupiter in the distance and the natural satellites of Jupiter that came into view from time to time.

It was not all smooth sailing for the expeditionary force along the way.

For example, personnel become sick, equipment malfunctions, etc. These things sometimes appear suddenly without any warning at all.

Fortunately, when the three Gonggong-class ships were designed and constructed, all possible accidents were fully considered, so that these emergencies were dealt with without any danger.

"finally reached."

The deputy on the side, An Ning, held a tablet and called up a document: "Captain, the Aerospace Department has handed over all the equipment in Jupiter's orbit to us."

Zhang Shuyi took the tablet, which listed the equipment still operating in Jupiter's orbit.

These include 57 detectors, 16 professional detection satellites, and 5 landers.

There are also two resource reserve space stations and two striker-class spacecraft, which have been sent to Jupiter's orbit by the Department of Aerospace.

Of course, these equipment and supplies are only used to meet initial work needs.

As time goes by, the Jupiter expeditionary force composed of three Gonggong-class spacecraft will gradually form its own industrial system and achieve self-sufficient development.

"Aning." Zhang Shuyi turned around and ordered: "Get the No. 2 ship ready, allocate some manpower, and use the two striker-class spacecraft to start mining some resources."

"Understood." An Ning nodded.

Soon the expeditionary force split up, and some people took over the two resource reserve space stations, integrated them, and prepared to build a satellite city on Jupiter.

On the other hand, the personnel control two striker-class spacecraft and go to various natural satellites of Jupiter to mine the necessary resources.

Although Jupiter's own ultra-strong magnetic field and gravitational field make it difficult for spacecraft to enter it, the natural satellites, asteroids and ice crystal materials in Jupiter's orbit are very abundant.

The 79 natural satellites alone contain more resources than the resources on the surface of Blue Star.

This is not to say that the total resources of Blue Star are less than those of these Jupiter moons, but it involves a problem of mining difficulty.

Take gold, for example. Blue Star's total gold reserves are 20,000 megatons. The problem is that most of this gold is stored in the core and mantle of the earth. Humans have no way to fully mine that part of the earth's crust.

According to the current mining technology of the Federation, solid minerals on land can be mined at a depth of 1,500 to 2,500 meters. For seabed minerals in the ocean, only seabed deposits at a depth of 200 to 1,500 meters can be mined.

As a result, the ratio of mineable minerals between Blue Star and Jupiter's satellites can only be limited to a part of the surface of both parties.

It is equivalent to comparing the areas of the two sides, the area of ​​Blue Star, and the surface area of ​​Jupiter's 79 natural satellites. Comparing the two, it is obvious that the surface area of ​​Jupiter's satellites is greater than the surface area of ​​Blue Star.

In terms of the total amount of exploitable resources at this stage, there is no way for Blue Star to compare with the satellites of Jupiter.

In addition, there are asteroids rich in heavy metals in the asteroid belt. According to the latest detection data, there are 86 large asteroids rich in heavy metals in the asteroid belt.

One of the asteroids contains 2.4 to 2.9 million tons of gold, as well as a large amount of platinum group metals, tungsten, lead and the like.

In other words, in terms of resources, Jupiter really doesn't need to worry too much.

As for Blue Star, in fact, in addition to its own resources, the resources of solar wind, Mercury and Venus can also be calculated on Blue Star's side.

After all, transportation between the inner layers of the solar system is relatively convenient. If Blue Star really needs some rare resources, the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars in the inner solar system can all be used as resource supply planets.

Venus, in particular, is an extremely mineral-rich planet. Due to its perennial volcanic eruptions, the surface often exchanges materials with the mantle, resulting in the total amount of heavy metal minerals present on the surface being dozens of times more than that of Blue Star.

For example, rhenium, tungsten, iridium, rhodium, rubidium and the like are commonly used in the aerospace industry. Rich mineral veins abound on the surface of Venus.

The current industrial production in the Venus Zone is to refine some rare elements and then transport them back to Blue Star. This is also one of the strategic significance of the existence of the Venus Zone.

The Jupiter area that the expeditionary force is responsible for does not need to send resources to Blue Star, and the resources here can completely make the expeditionary force self-sufficient.

The potential of the Jupiter Zone in the future is very great, and it can accommodate the development of at least hundreds of billions of people. After all, the total resources here are more than an order of magnitude greater than those of Blue Star.

Resources and technology jointly determine the development height of civilization.

Moreover, Jupiter can appropriately develop some giant structures. As long as the radius of the giant structures is ensured to not exceed about 100 kilometers, the probability of being observed by alien civilizations in the orbit of Jupiter is relatively small.

This is also the core strategy for the future development of Jupiter. After all, only large megacities can generate enough pseudo-gravity to ensure that a large number of people live on Jupiter.

Before the two striker-class ships came from Blue Star, some mining and rough smelting equipment were designed in advance.

Callisto, an irregular rocky planet, is a relatively small natural satellite of Jupiter, with a surface area of ​​only 90,800 square kilometers, slightly smaller than Zhejiang Province.

This natural satellite is one of the mineral collection planets planned by the Ministry of Aerospace for the expeditionary force.

In fact, among the series of natural satellites of Jupiter, except for the four Galilean satellites, the other natural satellites of Jupiter are all large rocks, with a radius generally ranging from a few kilometers to about 20 kilometers.

The four Galilean satellites are Io, with a diameter of 3,637 kilometers and a surface area of ​​41.91 million square kilometers;

Europa has a diameter of 3138 kilometers and a surface area of ​​31 million square kilometers;

Ganymede has a diameter of 5,262 kilometers and a surface area of ​​87 million square kilometers;

Callisto, with a diameter of 4,800 kilometers and a surface area of ​​74 million square kilometers, is slightly smaller than Mercury (4,880 kilometers in diameter).

These four Galilean satellites are all in the inner circle of Jupiter's orbit and are also the focus of future expeditions for exploration and research.

Most of the remaining natural satellites are large rocky planets that can be used as resource mining planets.

Jupiter, which is currently being mined by the Vanguard-class spacecraft, is such a planet, and it is also an irregular planet.

With current technology and the low gravity environment of this small natural satellite, the expeditionary force can quickly hollow out the planet.

If it is determined that there are no dangers (such as deadly microorganisms) here, the expeditionary force will gradually transform Callisto into a raw material smelting base.

After all, building a rotating satellite city requires a lot of resources, and these natural satellites are the most convenient resource supply places.

However, currently, the resources mined by the vanguard are mainly used to produce new spacecraft, and then part of them are used in the space capsule of the space station.

In addition to these tasks, the expeditionary force also has another mission, which is to study the physical condition of astronauts living in a centrifugal force pseudo-gravity environment for a long time.

This is why, even though the Federation is already building the next batch of Gonggong-class spacecraft, it has not accelerated its construction, nor has it continued to select astronauts for the expeditionary force.

Because insufficient clinical data has not been collected, it will be necessary to wait more than ten years to confirm the physical condition of the first batch of expedition members before sending the next batch of expedition troops to Jupiter on a large scale.

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