Deep Space Fleet

Zhang Yuan pondered these astronomical data carefully, and he saw a circle of yellow and purple things on Gliese 581g. This circle of yellow and purple is widely distributed in the twilight line, which seems to be very neat, not like a natural occurrence.

Because the spacecraft is still seven astronomical units away from the planet, the resolution of the photo is not high, and it is not known what it is.

"Professor Fan, have you found any traces of intelligent life?" Captain Zhao also saw this photo, pondered for a while, and asked.

The astronomer immediately replied: "... No intelligent life has been found for the time being. The probe we launched is still on the way. But as far as it is concerned, no regular electromagnetic waves have been found in the universe."

"There are no artificial satellites or large buildings on the surface..."

Zhang Yuan couldn't help asking: "Then what are these yellow things? Such a regular global spectacle can't be formed naturally, right?"

Professor Fan said: "These abnormal colors are likely to be a large number of alien plants, but the colors are slightly different from the plants on the earth. The large tracts of virgin forests on our earth are green, while the plants here are yellow. and purple..."

"We suspect that these lives do not need oxygen, and obtain energy through reactions such as sulfur oxidation and nitrogen oxidation. This breathing method is fundamentally different from our aerobic respiration."

Alien life?

Zhang Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and many people sitting around couldn't help discussing in low voices.

In particular, some biologists feel more excited than a sense of crisis. For them, any extraterrestrial life has a strong reference and guiding significance for issues such as the origin of life.

"These planets are tidally locked to their stars. The side facing away from the stars is too cold, and the side facing the stars is too hot. The twilight line is neither cold nor hot, which is a very good place to live."

"Large life community located at the twilight line, can receive eternal light, and the temperature is suitable..."

"The strength of life is incredible."

"Ahem, please be quiet, everyone. In a few days, the satellite will be able to transmit back the first-hand information...but I think..."

The professor said a lot. What he meant was that according to the current data, the probability of no intelligent life is higher. Even if there is intelligent life, it is likely to be just some indigenous people, so there is nothing to fear.

Anyway, as long as these beings do not have the ability to threaten human beings, there is nothing to worry about.

After human beings have developed to a certain stage, they will definitely have to conduct more detailed field investigations on the life on this planet.

Zhang Yuan and many people here were slightly relieved. What they were most worried about was that there was already a strong interstellar civilization in this star field... Even if the probability of this is very small, once this civilization exists, their ship People are undoubtedly the turtle in the urn.

"It's impossible for civilization to develop into the space age without using electromagnetic waves or satellites, right?"

"yes."

Listening to everyone's discussion, Zhang Yuan stood up and said: "For the sake of caution, we still have to shield the radio waves of the spacecraft itself as much as possible until more specific information comes out."

The proposal was quickly and unanimously passed.

Next, after a series of discussions, combined with the various mechanical equipment carried on the spacecraft, everyone selected the No. 1 satellite closest to Gliese 581g for development.

The six main planets are called b, c, d, e, f, g, etc., which are named according to the order in which humans discovered them. However, the satellites attached to these planets have not been named. For the sake of simplicity, people directly refer to the largest satellite of planet 581g as No. 1.

The moon is nearly 4,000 kilometers in diameter, bare and full of craters, with a revolution period of about 14 days.

Coupled with tidal locking, its rotation period is equal to its revolution period.

The reason for choosing the No. 1 satellite is because its distance from the star is moderate, even if the star erupts with flares, the spacecraft will not be greatly affected. And in theory, according to the formation conditions of the planet, it has all the resources needed by human beings, including various common metals, rare elements, radioactive elements and so on.

The only disadvantage is that it is relatively close to the living planet, and there may be some potential threats. Life always has endless possibilities, who knows what strange life will be there.

However, the distance between the satellite and the planet is a full 360,000 kilometers. If something really happens, there is still time to react. Zhang Yuan does not believe that any creature can break free from the gravity of the planet with its own body and jump onto the Earth Times.

So, being closer to the living planet is not necessarily a disadvantage, but it may also be an advantage, at least it will be much more convenient for scientific research and investigation in the future.

Compared with other planets that may have irreparable flaws, No. 1 is already considered a pretty good planet.

"However, Zhang, at this rotation speed, if a space elevator is placed on this planet, the height of the synchronous orbit will be very exaggerated!"

Ye Kaifu said quietly under his seat: "The rotation speed of this planet is too slow. I just calculated it casually. The height of the synchronous orbit is more than 80,000 kilometers. We don't carry that much raw material at all... What should we do?"

"No, you miscalculated..."

Zhang Yuan smiled and corrected him: "In this case, the laying of the space elevator has to consider the huge gravitational force of another planet. Therefore, our spacecraft will not stay in the synchronous orbit directly..."

"You do the math again, the gravitational force of the satellite, offset the gravitational force of the planet, and then use the rest to calculate..."

"It makes sense!"

Ye Kaifu suddenly realized, "I haven't touched this thing for several years, and I kind of forgot about it. Fortunately, I didn't ask directly, otherwise I would be ashamed."

After careful calculation, he found that it only took 8,000 kilometers to complete the orbital height, and he couldn't help but feel secretly happy.

This distance is good, and the construction difficulty of the space elevator is greatly reduced, so there is no need to worry about anything.

As for energy...

"There should be enough uranium on the planet to support the first few steps of human development."

Moreover, when there is sufficient sunlight, solar panels can be considered on the sunny side of the planet to replace nuclear energy. Solar panels are a very cheap and simple technology. Zhang Yuan feels that with the current equipment carried by the spacecraft, it can be mass-produced within a year or two.

After some discussion, Captain Zhao made an enthusiastic decision: "...Then it's decided like this, we will open our first landing site on the No. 1 satellite!"

...