Although Hawking was no longer a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Queen and the Prime Minister still sent him a letter of blessing and a letter of thanks to Jiang Chen. Although relations with Europe were gradually deteriorating, Future Group unexpectedly gained the friendship of the United Kingdom.
Perhaps it was because of historical factors, or perhaps it was because the Rothschild family's control over the United Kingdom was not as strong as it used to be, or it was just because of an old man widely known in the scientific community.
Jiang Chen did not charge Hawking for the operation, but in return, he asked him to join Coro University as a physics professor. Although Coro University poached a large number of excellent teachers from all over the world under Jiang Chen's financial offensive, other than Raphael Leif, the seventeenth president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there were really no top professors that were worthy of being advertised.
Hawking's arrival undoubtedly solved this problem. Because of his participation, the influence of Coro University was forcibly raised by more than one level.
Of course, Jiang Chen cured Hawking's ALS not just to advertise for Future Biology and put a name on Coro University. These were all secondary. What he really valued was Hawking's achievements in the field of cosmic research.
On the second day after recovery, Jiang Chen went to Coro City Central Hospital again to find Hawking. After asking his wife and children to leave, he explained his intentions.
"Asteroid mining plan?" Hawking frowned slightly.
"We have noticed your research on the Bennu asteroid and your prediction that it will collide with the Earth in 2135. If you can provide us with research information on this asteroid, it will be of great help, "Jiang Chen said.
In fact, Hawking's achievements as a prophet were far less prominent than his achievements in physics and cosmology. Like a series of predictions he made before, this prediction that the Bennu asteroid would collide with the Earth in 2135 also did not materialize … Because as early as the beginning of the 22nd century, the asteroid with a diameter of about 500 meters was mined clean by NATO.
In aerospace technology, NATO in the apocalypse was a little further along than PAC and CCCP, and they were also quite cautious about the confidentiality of related technologies.
The library database of the Pan-Asia Cooperation did not record detailed information about the Bennu asteroid, such as the most critical orbit. However, in the database organized by the technicians at Camp 27, Jiang Chen accidentally found the relevant model of asteroid capture technology.
According to Lin Lin's description, the Bennu asteroid was one of the first asteroids to be captured and one of the easiest to capture. For Celestial Trade, which was in the "embryonic stage" of aerospace technology, this asteroid was undoubtedly the most suitable tool to practice their skills!
However, after listening to Jiang Chen's plan, Hawking was extremely worried.
"Have you thought about the disaster of mining failure?"
"The orbit of the Bennu asteroid is extremely close to Earth. Every six years, when it crosses Earth's orbit, we can even 'see' it from Earth. If your mining reduced its speed, causing it to be captured by the Earth's gravity, the only result would be a direct collision with the Earth! Have you considered the consequences? "Hawking looked at Jiang Chen and said seriously.
"Of course I have." "Because our plan is to slow it down and eventually be captured by the gravitational force of the Earth-Moon system. It will be stationary in the Earth-Moon system, at a height lower than the orbit of the Moon, and it will orbit the Earth with the Moon. Our scientists have calculated the most suitable orbit to 'store' the asteroid. "
Hawking looked at Jiang Chen speechlessly and said after a long while.
"Either you are a genius, or you are a madman. If you are wrong by a decimal point, all of humanity will be buried with your mistakes. "
"I'm honored to receive this honor, but such an accident is impossible to happen," Jiang Chen said with a smile, "I swear, my plan is foolproof."
His turbid eyes stared straight at Jiang Chen. After a long silence, Hawking finally sighed.
"Although I want to stop you, I'm afraid I don't have that ability at all. If it can increase the success rate of your plan, you can take my research results on the Bennu asteroid. In addition, although spacecraft and mining are not my areas of expertise, if it is a field related to cosmology, if there is anything I can do for you, just tell me. "
After hearing Hawking's words, Jiang Chen smiled and nodded.
"Thank you for your understanding. Speaking of which, in addition to the Bennu asteroid, I have a more important thing that needs your help. "
"What is it?"
"Our scientists accidentally observed a particle from the high-dimensional universe in an experiment … we call it the Klein particle. It contains some mysteries related to cosmic phenomena such as time and black holes, but unfortunately, we know very little about it. If you are interested, I hope you can participate in related research. "
…
As early as the beginning of the year, Jiang Chen had a plan to capture this asteroid with exceptionally rich mineral reserves. Although it was not made public due to various practical issues, the relevant preparatory work had never stopped. For example, the development and construction of mining rockets, the design of capture plans, and so on …
The asteroid capture plan would be divided into three steps, namely landing, weaving a net, and traction.
The so-called landing was to launch a mining spacecraft, accelerate to the same orbit as the asteroid, and land on the surface of the asteroid to begin construction.
And weaving a net was to weave a "net" that was tough enough to wrap the asteroid shell with a diameter of about 500 meters. The preferred material was naturally graphene. Whether it was toughness or strength, this material was very suitable to weave this giant net.
The last step was traction, which was also the most difficult and critical part. It involved quite complex mathematical problems. In addition, according to the estimates of the Space Launch Center, to complete the artificial orbit change of the asteroid, decelerate it, and be captured into a safe orbit by the Earth-Moon system, at least eight RM-320 rocket engines were needed to be deployed at the end of the trawl, and the orbit change of the asteroid would be controlled through the sequence of ignition, flameout, and speed difference.
If it was not careful, the asteroid would leave the Earth forever, or the asteroid would crash into the Earth. Celestial Trade could only reduce the ecological disaster caused by its impact on the Earth by blowing up the "Bennu" asteroid.
If it were not for the quantum computer responsible for data processing, Jiang Chen would not dare to implement such a complex project.
And even with the quantum computer as a data processing tool, and the records of the Bennu asteroid in the apocalypse, there were still many uncertainties in this project. As Hawking said, the person who made this decision was either a genius or a complete lunatic.
But the first step had to be taken.
Therefore, after repeatedly reviewing Calvin's plan, Jiang Chen signed his name on the document and approved the implementation of the plan. In order to avoid unnecessary consequences, Jiang Chen did not follow the procedure to report to the United Nations Outer Space Office. Instead, under the guise of building a "large space station", he launched five mining rockets into space.
The Bennu asteroid was already near the Earth and would cross the Earth's orbit at the end of December. At that time, it would be the best time to complete the asteroid capture plan – "orbit change". If he missed it, he would have to wait another six years.
In order to seize this once-in-a-six-year opportunity, the asteroid capture plan would be carried out simultaneously with the space elevator!
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