Deep Space Claustrophobia

The current conditions in outer space are just as astronomers predicted, filled with Interstellar Dust, the remnants of supernova explosions spreading out.

Although the temperature of this Interstellar Dust has decreased, it still possesses considerable velocity. In the near future, its speed will decrease further, and it will become increasingly sparse.

Scientists have calculated that the Interstellar Dust in the area where humanity is currently located is still about 2% of the speed of light, but it is already quite sparse, within the Hope's tolerance range.

In this situation, humanity also took this factor into account when choosing the direction of travel, so it is somewhat different from what Gan De said before. Interstellar Dust will not only not become an obstacle to the Hope, but will also transform into a driving force for the ship's progress.

This can also be regarded as another benefit brought by the Hope's solid outer material.

Of course, since the hydrogen element diffused in interstellar space is relatively sparse, this driving force is not significant, but it is better than nothing.

In this way, the Hope rotated while slowly accelerating towards its destination.

Its speed will reach its maximum value, 1% of the speed of light, in thirty years, and then enter the inertial flight phase. When it is about to reach its destination, its thrusters will be restarted, and then it will decelerate for another thirty years.

9. 545 light-years is undoubtedly a long journey that is difficult to surpass for humans today. If there was really no other way, humans would never have set foot in the starry sky at this time, because in the face of interstellar space, humanity's once proud 1% speed of light travel is really insignificant.

Everyone knows that this voyage is a one-way trip, and everyone knows that this is a thorny road, but no one shrinks back.

The Hope broke free from Callisto's gravity and slowly sailed into deep space.

People saw that in the pictures returned by the external camera, the planet named Callisto gradually became smaller and darker, and finally disappeared into the dark cosmic background, and no trace could be seen anymore.

"Goodbye, Callisto!"

Everyone silently said goodbye in their hearts.

They knew that this departure would be a farewell forever.

After expressing their feelings, people began to go to their respective Hibernation Pods for hibernation, as stated in the New Government's plan.

For this long voyage, humans made a lot of preparations during the forty years of waiting, but due to technical problems, it was impossible for everyone to sleep for a thousand years at once.

Human hibernation drugs are divided into two types: short-term and long-term. Three years or less is short-term, and more than three years is long-term, but long-term hibernation cannot last for a thousand years at a time.

Not to mention that the drugs cannot last that long, the equipment cannot run for a thousand years at a time, so humans can only solve the problem with multiple long-term hibernations.

With current human technology, the longest theoretical hibernation time is 180 years, but for safety reasons, all long-term Hibernation Pods will not be set to the maximum value, but will range from 30 to 170 years.

This is set considering the rotation situation.

After waking up, the rotating technical staff can use the three to five months of recovery period to inspect and maintain the equipment, so as to ensure the safe progress of people's subsequent hibernation.

The rotating technical staff not only have to maintain the Hibernation Pods, but also have to maintain the possible failures of the Hope during this process.

Nearly a thousand years is really too long.

Even the most advanced and durable equipment cannot guarantee that it can run for a thousand years without any failures.

In order to solve various problems that may occur during the voyage, in addition to using a rotating hibernation system, humans have also made backup arrangements for various equipment on the Hope.

Take the nuclear reactor that provides power to the Hope as an example, there are two, one for backup and one for use. There are many such backup designs, all of which are prepared for this long voyage.

Time passed by, and people entered the Hibernation Pods batch after batch, and the lights in the Hope's Living Module were also extinguished one by one.

Humans, no one can withstand the erosion of a thousand years.

Yue Yuan can't either. Although he inhaled that Red Gas, he can only live for up to five hundred years. A thousand years is enough for him to die twice.

So he must also hibernate for this voyage.

However, he did not hibernate immediately like other ordinary people, but went to hibernate after the ship's acceleration phase was completed.

The ship accelerated for thirty years, which happened to be the time for the first batch of hibernators to wake up and rotate.

And the group of young technicians who guarded the ship with Yue Yuan for thirty years, when the first batch of hibernation woke up, were all in their fifties and sixties.

Yue Yuan suddenly became more than ninety years old.

According to the plan, the first batch of awakened technical personnel will stick to their posts for ten years, and then the second batch of technical personnel will wake up to take over their work, and then the first batch of personnel will enter a long hibernation of 170 years. This will continue to rotate until the final destination is reached.

In the navigation plan, this rotation system must also ensure as much as possible that the rotating personnel will not die of old age due to excessive working hours.

There is no way, the number of humans is too small now, and the birth rate of newborns during the voyage is pitifully low. Basically, except for the people who have been awake for the first thirty years who may get married and have children, there can be no newborns during the rotation period in the middle. After all, each batch of duty personnel only works for ten years in the middle, and the time is not enough at all.

So every human life is precious.

Time flies.

It has been thirty years since the Hope set sail. Today, Yue Yuan, having finished his last navigation log, will also enter hibernation.

After turning off the camera that recorded the navigation log, Yue Yuan walked through the deserted corridor from his room to the control center.

When Yue Yuan arrived at the control center, he only saw a few people on duty, making it seem particularly desolate. But he was used to it, so it wasn't a problem.

He also knew that the staff on duty at this time didn't have much to do, because apart from the necessary manual positions, almost everything else was controlled by intelligent AI programs.

Yue Yuan understood all of this, so after arriving at the control center, he didn't bother with the few seemingly idle staff members. Instead, he casually walked to the large screen in front of the captain's seat and said, "Tianhe Light, open the external camera."

"Okay, connecting you to external data. Friendly reminder: There are no planets near the Hope's current location. The external view will be sparse with stars, which is one of the causes of human Deep Space Claustrophobia. Are you sure you want to proceed?" a highly realistic electronic synthesized voice replied.

The supercomputer on the Hope is called Tianhe Light. Because the designer had difficulty naming things, the intelligent AI designed based on the supercomputer Tianhe Light was also called Tianhe Light.