Five kilometers underground of the Mars colony, traces of suspected Martian civilization activities were found.
This was an incredible piece of news.
After Jiang Chen read the report from Hong Zewei, the captain of the colony, he immediately called Calvin and issued the task of sending the second batch of colonists ahead of schedule.
The transport mission was carried out by the new 500,000-ton Seagull-class ship that was "launched" half a month ago. It used an improved version of the Red River X1 engine, which could complete the acceleration and deceleration stage in a shorter time and complete flight in the solar system at a higher cruising speed.
Based on the orbital data calculated by the quantum computer, it would only take 21 days from Celestial City to the synchronous orbit of Mars based on the current relative position of the Earth and Mars.
Because the colonization plan was advanced by a full three months, the 100 colonists who were undergoing training had to end their training early and board the transport ship with the cargo to be taken to the Mars colony. In addition to the colonists, there were also ten orbital airborne soldiers equipped with the most advanced Gauss rifles and outer space kinetic skeletons.
Although Jiang Chen was skeptical about the existence of Martians, after all, it was more than three billion years ago that people could live on Mars. Even if they dug a mausoleum for themselves underground, it would be weathered into sand by now, let alone living creatures.
However, in order to reassure the people in the colony, Jiang Chen finally decided to send a ground force.
He knew very well what kind of extreme things people would do when they were isolated and helpless.
At the same time as the second batch of colonists set off, the twenty members of the Earth Defense Alliance also returned to the surface. Ghost Agents ended the surveillance of the twenty members. After Jiang Chen left the office, he went to the shipyard of Future Heavy Industries.
At present, the shipyard was located in the gravity-free section of the main axis of the space elevator, next to the port of Celestial City.
When Jiang Chen arrived at the shipyard, the hull of a black, 600-meter-long Seagull-class transport ship was suspended in the air by more than a dozen robotic arms, occupying almost 90% of the space of the shipyard.
Countless construction robots surrounded the outside of the transport ship and welded the processed parts to the ship. At the rear of the ship, four mechanical cantilevers were connected to a wide variety of tools, from files to laser welding guns. At this moment, these mechanical cantilevers were performing a highly difficult operation, connecting the Red River X1 engine to the notch at the rear of the transport ship.
The wisdom of the laboring people is limitless.
Although the design drawings and key technologies of the Seagull-class transport ship were provided by Jiang Chen, the entire production process was developed by 10,000 scientists, technicians, and senior engineers of Future Heavy Industries using existing equipment.
The production process was not necessarily the most perfect, but it was comparable to the world's best.
Jiang Chen could proudly announce to the world that Future Heavy Industries was the only company in the world that mastered the manufacturing process of a 500,000-ton transport ship. Whether it was Russia's Oleg, China's Changchun, or the United States' Apollo X1, they were no different from fish in the water in front of the "Big Seagull".
Of course, fantasies were just fantasies. He didn't come here just to admire the magnificent size of the Seagull-class transport ship. He had more important things to do.
He didn't have to wait long before a middle-aged man in work clothes floated over to him. He grabbed the handrail and stood by the window.
As the shipyard owner of Future Heavy Industries, he was in a meeting with senior engineers. When he heard his subordinate report that Jiang Chen personally came to the shipyard, he quickly handed the meeting over to his deputy, changed into work clothes, and ran over.
Dai Zhengming looked at Jiang Chen apologetically and explained, "Sorry, I was in a meeting with the technicians. I didn't know the boss would personally come to the shipyard to inspect. If there's anything wrong, I hope you can forgive me —"
"There's no need to be so polite." Jiang Chen let go of the guardrail and waved his hand, indicating that he didn't have to worry about it. He smiled and said, "I'm just here to take a look. I hope I didn't disturb your work."
"No, no." Dai Zhengming quickly waved his hand and said with a smile, "If there's anything you don't understand, please be sure to tell me. I'll answer all I know!"
Jiang Chen smiled and looked at the SS Seagull outside the glass window. He paused for a moment, then continued.
"In the fleet plan approved by the Earth Defense Alliance, it is scheduled to open tenders for member companies in a week to build the first million-ton warship. At present, only we have the ability to bid on hull welding, engines, and ecological storage. You are an expert in this area. I want to consult your opinion. Do you have confidence in building this million-ton warship? "
After hearing Jiang Chen's words, Dai Zhengming's face showed a hint of hesitation.
"Boss, to be honest, you should have seen that our shipyard is still too small. The construction space is simply not enough. 500,000 tons is already the limit. If it's any larger, I'm afraid the bow of the ship will extend outside. "
Jiang Chen nodded.
He had already noticed the problem of space in the shipyard. The Seagull-class transport ship alone had already occupied the entire construction space of the shipyard.
It should be mentioned here that the entire Celestial City was divided into gravity-free sections, gravity-free sections, and low-gravity sections in the middle. Due to the issue of the center of gravity of the entire space elevator, in addition to some light industries and planting industries, heavy industries such as shipbuilding and steelmaking with large resource throughput were distributed on the gravity-free section, which was the main axis of the entire space elevator. Shipyards, ports, and heavy industrial factories were all placed on the space elevator layer by layer like building blocks.
There were many advantages to doing this, such as maximizing the use of space resources and reducing the time spent in the logistics and transportation of industrial raw materials. However, the disadvantages were also obvious. One of them was that if there was not enough space, there was no space to move.
At present, the steel mill was below the shipyard, and the port was next to it. It would be quite troublesome to demolish. It was not a problem to widen outwards, but the lack of vertical space severely limited the scale of the shipyard.
After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Chen looked at Dai Zhengming and said.
"A million-ton warship can't be built on the space elevator. What do you think if the entire shipyard is moved out of the space elevator and placed in the synchronous orbit alone? "
"Placed in the synchronous orbit alone?" Dai Zhengming keenly realized the meaning of the boss's words. His eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "You mean to build a separate space station outside the space elevator as a shipyard."
"Yes," Jiang Chen nodded, "I just don't know if it will be difficult to implement."
If the shipyard was moved out of the space elevator, it would become a satellite of the entire Celestial City. By then, the construction space of the entire shipyard would be much larger than it was now, and it could continue to expand as needed. Not to mention a million-ton warship, even a ten-million-ton interstellar warship would have the construction foundation.
As for the current shipyard, it was enough to build small boats less than 500,000 tons.
Dai Zhengming also considered this issue before, but he was only a factory director after all, and he didn't know how the space elevator operated. Moreover, he was under Future Heavy Industries, and the space elevator was managed by Celestial Trade. Even if his problem was reported to the higher-ups, it wouldn't be so easy to hear …
Now that the boss mentioned it, of course, he was in favor.
"I'll find someone to arrange this. You should also study how to plan this space station."
At the same time, Jiang Chen did say in his mind: Celestial Trade and Future Group are getting bigger and bigger. It seems that the cooperation between the various departments must be stepped up. I have to discuss with Xia Shiyu in a while to see if there are any good ideas.
With the farewell of Dai Zhengming and a group of employees, Jiang Chen left the shipyard of Future Heavy Industries and was about to call Xia Shiyu. However, before he dialed the number, she took the initiative to call.
"What's up?"
"Zhang Yaping just called you, but he couldn't get in touch with you, so he called the company. He said that the Nippon Foreign Minister is now in Coro City, and he wants to talk to you. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
