"If we're only talking about exploration, it actually began when the first satellite was launched."
On a mountaintop like an isolated island high in the sky, the three sat around a campfire beneath the magnificent Milky Way Galaxy. Hearing Fang Ran's question, Klim smiled and answered.
But he could guess that the "exploring the universe" Fang Ran meant referred to interstellar travel. He gave a slightly helpless, self-conscious laugh.
"But if you mean the kind you're imagining, then under foreseeable future development, it definitely won't be possible within the next few centuries, and the time required after that is impossible to predict."
Hearing such a rigorous answer, Fang Ran nodded and asked with simple bluntness.
"Is it because we can't build spaceships?"
"Hahaha, that's not wrong."
Unable to hold back a laugh, Klim raised his head and looked up at the flourishing starry sky overhead. Even though he had taken part in several astronomical observation activities before—
This was also the first time he had seen the Milky Way Galaxy so clearly and beautifully with his own eyes.
"But ultimately, it's because we know far too little about the universe. There are too many unknowns. Before we can even talk about whether we can build them, we don't even have the theoretical knowledge."
"And in the face of its vastness, we are small and helpless."
At this point, Klim lowered his head and looked at Fang Ran with a light smile, briefly explaining that vastness.
"In relativity, the speed of light is the limit of speed in the universe. But the Milky Way Galaxy spans a hundred thousand light-years, and the Local Group it belongs to spans millions of light-years."
"Above that are the Virgo Supercluster, the even higher-ranked Laniakea Supercluster, and other superclusters on the same level."
At the