As long as the weather was good enough, even standing on the island of New Guinea hundreds of kilometers away, one could see the giant tower that pierced into the sky.
No one knew what it was. It was as if it appeared there overnight and "grew" to the center of the earth day and night, falling below the horizon.
From a distance, it looked like a strand of hair. Only with a high-powered telescope could the well-proportioned texture of the tower be seen.
If it was on Ange Island in the southernmost part of Xin, even with the naked eye, it was possible to see the tower in its entirety. It was precisely because of this that many aerospace and alien enthusiasts traveled thousands of miles to Xin just to see this incredible spectacle.
Yes, only the word spectacle could describe this magnificent project that connected the sky and the earth.
"Dad! What's that? " Standing on the beach of Ange Island, the little boy pointed to the white line connecting the sky and the earth in the distance and asked crisply.
"That's an elevator." Looking at the space elevator in the distance, the man in beach pants had a fascinated expression on his face.
"Elevator? Where does such a high elevator go? "The little boy looked at his father and asked in confusion.
"To space." The man rubbed the little boy's head. "When Dad was a child, you must use a very high rocket to go to space. But now, using an elevator is enough. "
"Space? Do I have a chance to go? "The little boy's eyes flashed with hope as he looked at his father.
"Of course. Not just space, maybe you will have the opportunity to go to more distant places. " The man smiled and looked at the clouds pierced by the space elevator. "Child, you caught up with a good era."
The sea near the space elevator was designated as a military restricted area by Celestial Trade. Frigates modified with J-type 50 electromagnetic pulse cannons cruised in the nearby waters and drove away ships that entered the area with the help of coast guard ships. A maritime platform equipped with a laser air defense system was deployed in the sea two kilometers away from the space elevator to defend against missiles or aircraft that may pose a threat to the space elevator.
Under the long and narrow space elevator, a cuboid with a length and width of several kilometers floated above the sea.
As the sea base station of the space elevator, it could dock cargo ships with a displacement of tens of thousands of tons, and the runway next to it also allowed civil airliners to dock.
The currently completed space elevator has six passenger passageways on the inside and six cargo passageways on the outside. There was a vertical "carriage" in the passenger corridor. A single "carriage" could carry 60 to 80 passengers, and it was driven by electromagnetic force. The entire carriage was like a projectile from an electromagnetic cannon, accelerating on an electrified rail.
As for the freight corridor, the principle was similar to the passenger corridor. However, because it was transporting goods, the acceleration of the carriage would be more than 10G, which was unbearable for humans. The vertical speed would also be close to the first cosmic acceleration.
Each cargo carriage can push 50 tons of cargo to the geosynchronous orbit, which is equivalent to two Long March V carrier rockets. As for the transportation cost per ton, it was way higher than SpaceX's Falcon series rockets.
The various countries seemed to know something about this "giant tower" that connected outer space and the earth, but they all remained silent. Even if they didn't say anything, Future Group would soon disclose this secret. They were waiting for Future Group to speak first before they put forward their demands based on the chips in their hands.
Compared to the silence of the various governments, the Internet was in an uproar.
Space elevator!
This concept that originally only existed in fantasy literature and films was moved to reality by Future Group?!
What completely ignited public opinion was a video uploaded to YouTube by a newly registered user. In the video, Celestial Trade employees operated engineering vehicles, loaded unknown goods onto the cargo box of the space elevator, and then sent them into space.
The video was very clear and had been edited. This anonymous user was likely to be an internal member of Celestial Trade. It could even be said that this video was released at the behest of Celestial Trade.
No matter what the purpose of this video was, it had caused a sensation on the Internet. Not to mention other online platforms, just below the comment section of the video, netizens expressed the shock in their hearts in various languages.
"Oh my God, I can actually witness humanity moving into the interstellar era in my lifetime!"
"That's off topic! It's just a broken elevator. It doesn't even have the Armstrong Cyclotron Acceleration Super Warp Engine. How dare they claim to be moving into the interstellar era? "
"What kind of rubbish is the one above talking about? Don't say anything, take some medicine first. "
"I heard that the Japanese Obayashi Construction Company plans to start building a space elevator in 2050? I want to know the extent of this company's CEO's psychological shadow. "
Not only did netizens discuss spontaneously, major newspapers, TV, and online media also followed up on Future Group's landmark project.
"The breakthrough in graphene technology has laid the groundwork for the completion of today's space elevator. The height of 36,000 kilometers will surpass any tall building in the world and any building in the next 50 years. What's worth reflecting on is that while we're trying to build taller buildings and make them more valuable to the point where most people can't afford them, a small country in the distant Pacific Ocean has already extended its hand to a place where we can only look up to. "BBC News.
"The problem with rockets is that most of the rocket's fuel is consumed by the propellant itself. The space elevator, on the other hand, can only rely on electricity to send the things we need to push to geosynchronous orbit. Peter, the president of the International Space Elevator Association, believes that the space elevator is an amazing technology that allows us to open the door to the solar system. A few years ago, we all thought he was crazy, but now no one doubts it, "CBS said.
"… Behind this great project is a very creative entrepreneur. His contribution to modern civilization is far greater than the sum of Jobs and Gates, because his range of fields is staggering. And such a great entrepreneur was born in a small county called Hucheng in the Jiangnan area of our country. What kind of living environment gave birth to such a genius? Let's walk into this small county, into the school he once lived in, and explore … "
Jiang Chen flipped through the newspaper in his hand, and when he read half of it, he suddenly burst out laughing.
Ayesha walked to his side with the coffee and gently put it on the table. She tilted her head and looked at Jiang Chen, who was giggling.
"Did something good happen?"
"Sort of." Jiang Chen shook his head and threw the newspaper aside.
As an official media, the newspaper also reflected the position of the Hua government to a certain extent. Over the past few days, the newspaper had been trying its best to package him as a "four good young man" from Hua to the world and winning glory for the country. Although he was happy to see someone praising him in his hometown, he had to think about the deeper meaning behind it.
"I hope they will stand on our side at the United Nations Outer Space Rational Development Summit in a week." Jiang Chen thoughtfully picked up the coffee and took a sip.
There was no doubt that the space elevator would definitely be the focus of this United Nations Outer Space Summit. And what kind of vote the five thugs would make around this issue was also an issue that Future Group must pay attention to.
If there were no surprises, Hua and Russia should send people to contact him in private. The UA should also send people, and the UK that left Europe should also send people. As for the EU, they may be more reserved. After all, the relationship between Future Group and the EU was a bit delicate.
Regardless of what the United Nations would vote at the summit, Celestial Trade's plan would not change.
On the second day after the summit, the space elevator would officially open from the offshore platform to the geosynchronous orbit space station – Celestial City.
This time, it was not goods, but people.
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