On Mars, it is very lively these days. With the scientific summit unfolding, the entire base and Tiansuo are almost boiling.
This is the second day of the Science Summit. After more than four hours of communication in the second half of the Science Summit, Toni, Xu Shuwei and others are still not satisfied.
Chen Mengchuan found them with a smile, "We are about to start capturing the first asteroid!"
Xu Shuwei was excited and his pupils widened a little. "Really? Are you going to start capturing the first asteroid?"
"We will arrive soon. Our operators will soon enter manual operation to arrest. Let's go and take a look." Chen Mengchuan said with a smile.
"Must!" Xu Shuwei laughed, and a group of people quickly headed towards the main control room.
After arriving at the main control room, Chen Mengchuan looked at the 3D rendering of the virtual asteroid belt on the screen and waited quietly.
The asteroid belt is a dense area of asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in Solar System. The asteroid to be captured this time is a thunderbolt-shaped asteroid with a diameter of 5.32 kilometers. It is said to look like a star, but in fact it is more like a huge meteorite.
Although the asteroid was accurately positioned this time, the process of finding and arriving around the asteroid took several extra days.
The many asteroids in the asteroid belt are mostly made of rocks or metals. They also move around the sun. Chen Mengchuan's many astronomical telescopes have further confirmed the number of asteroids in the entire asteroid belt during these times. The number exceeds 316 million! Its total mass far exceeds previous human estimates, and is likely to be more than 420 times the mass of the Earth! Its degree of development is unimaginably high.
"There are still 1,200 kilometers away from the target number LKUJ-782719 asteroid, continue to turn on Space-time Traversal to get closer!"
A huge asteroid appeared in front of everyone's eyes on the screen. Its shape was like a huge, irregular and twisted olive. There was no other material around it, and it was flying slowly and alone.
Although it looks slow, it is actually not slow at all.
"We're about to go!" Li Shuo, the commander in charge of the asteroid capture spacecraft, shouted.
Then the asteroid capture spacecraft quickly confirmed the coordinate data of both parties. Soon a light blue source point circle was activated and opened. The asteroid capture spacecraft quickly started. Driven by the strong anti-gravity technology, the entire asteroid capture spacecraft quickly flew into the already warm source point circle!
The next moment! The video camera device accompanied the asteroid capture spacecraft through the source circle. In an instant, the entire screen suddenly turned gray and black. The camera device quickly refocused, and an extremely huge meteorite appeared in front of everyone!
"I hope this will be a M-type metallic asteroid!" Xu Shuwei said.
Chen Mengchuan smiled, "Brother Xu, these asteroids are basically composed of rocks or metals. There are generally only three categories: carbonaceous, silicate and metal. Judging from NASA's data, the probability is very high, and I Our recent observations and discoveries have also reached the same conclusion, and this asteroid numbered LKUJ-782719 is a M-type metallic asteroid, so the probability of us getting a complete M-type metallic asteroid is very high."
"Even if this asteroid is not a complete M-type metallic asteroid, there will still be a large amount of carbonaceous and silicate, which will be helpful to us. However, this probability is very small, less than 7%."
After Chen Mengchuan finished speaking, the asteroid capture spacecraft on the screen quickly moved.
"Check the direction of the spacecraft, start the capture plan, and confirm the capture point!" Commander Li Shuo shouted again.
Under the command, the asteroid capture spacecraft quickly flew around the asteroid.
In a few minutes of flight time, bits and pieces of data were collected.
"Brother Chuan! Data collection completed!" Li Shuo turned to Chen Mengchuan and said.
The picture on the big screen changed, and a huge three-dimensional asteroid was outlined.
Soon more data appeared on the screen.
The huge length, width, and volume data made everyone full of expectations.
50.965 cubic kilometers!
There is no doubt that it is a very large volume.
"The core capture point has been confirmed!" Artificial Intelligence Yue'er's voice sounded.
On the huge three-dimensional asteroid imaging map, the position of a concave point is marked.
"The capture point has been determined, start capturing, prepare to drill, and start analyzing the composition of the asteroid!"
Chen Mengchuan Several people looked at the screen quietly. The asteroid capture spacecraft flew to the concave point on the three-dimensional imaging, and then quickly fell down!
The asteroid capture spacecraft did not stop. After a slight tremor, dozens of fine mechanical arms slowly stretched out. Then the high-hardness drill bit above the robotic arm was activated instantly, started to rotate, and drilled in almost instantly like inserting tofu.
Robotic arms at different angles were drilling holes very quickly.
In the three-dimensional imaging, the screen was quickly stretched, and after sliding, the trajectory of the drilling appeared. In the picture, it is like dozens of needles piercing into translucent potatoes. From the data panel, each drill hole has been drilled nearly 50 meters deep!
"The drilling work is completed! Release the gravity bee swarm, locate the attachment point of the gravity bee swarm, and start comprehensive gravity coverage." Li Shuo's voice echoed in the main control room. Following his words, dense black dots were quickly released.
The screen opened wide, revealing hundreds of palm-sized specially-made gravity bees.
After these gravity bees dispersed, they quickly landed on the ground according to the coordinate points in space, and then started drilling, nailing the roots to the surface of the asteroid.
A large number of gravity bees began to attach more and more to it, and before long, almost the entire asteroid was attached.
The next moment, all the gravity bees bloomed, like flowers, and slowly stretched out pieces of strong gravity nodes folded in their tail bags. Each gravity bee colony spread out almost one square meter in size.
"The gravity bee swarm is attached! Start rotating and calibrating!"
After the voice of Li Shuo fell, the screen changed again, and a huge virtual star map appeared. One point marked the clear position of Mars, and the other with an arrow was the current asteroid capture spacecraft.
As the gravity bee started working, the direction was quickly rotated, and a beautiful arc soon appeared on the virtual star map.
"The return route has been confirmed and is ready to start Spatial Source Point Circle. It is planned to arrive at Martian base in 9 days!"
Li Shuo's voice is full of power.