William James was very surprised.
He didn't expect that his 20-second video, uploaded it to YouTube, and then posted it to his Twitter account would cause an uproar on the Internet.
He wasn't an internet celebrity. There were no more than one hundred people following him on Twitter. Most of them were his real-life friends, and some were random friends. He didn't expect that within just two hours after his video was uploaded, it would spread to major social media platforms like a virus. The number of views of the original video also easily exceeded 100,000 and was rapidly approaching the 500,000 mark.
Happiness came too suddenly and too inexplicably.
Before William realized what was going on, he saw the number of followers on his Twitter skyrocketing.
Two hours ago, he found a meteor outside the window of the space elevator.
Yes, a meteor!
As everyone knew, meteors were formed by the friction of meteorites in the atmosphere. There was no air in the universe, so naturally, it was impossible to form a gorgeous tail flame. He was sure that he didn't see it wrong. The bright spot dragged a tail flame! In the pitch-black universe, it was so conspicuous!
Unlike most civil airliners, when the altitude exceeded 100 kilometers, the space elevator could be connected to the network through Celestial Trade's quantum communication satellite, and the network speed was quite fast.
He clicked on the video he uploaded and opened the comment page. After watching the 20-second video, netizens left their own comments.
"God! What did I see? There is a meteor in outer space? Isn't this a landscape that can only be seen in the atmosphere? "
"Everyone, stop watching. I'm a yellow appraiser, and I watch thousands of videos a day. I can responsibly say that this video has been photoshopped! There are so many unreasonable things that I don't know where to start. "
"Upstairs, you are not a real yellow appraiser at all! I'm doing a video appraisal for the court. From a professional point of view, there is no photoshop in this video at all. In addition, PS is an image processing software. Please read more books before you speak online. "
"A god appeared above!"
William stared at the lines of comments on his phone blankly.
He didn't expect that the video he uploaded would cause such a heated discussion.
"The Twitter name of the person who uploaded the video is William James. I went to the official website of Celestial Trade to see this person's name on the list of foreign guests participating in the first train! This video should be real, but why is there Internet access in the space elevator? "
"Are you a pig? All the places covered by Celestial Trade's quantum communication satellite are connected to the network, and all places in Xin can connect to free Wi-Fi. You're asking why we can access the internet? "
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Just as he was about to use his Twitter account to post something, the elevator attendant's voice rang in his ear.
"The Ch-001 train is about to arrive at the station. During the train deceleration, the carriage will experience upward gravity. To avoid any accidents, please return to the cockpit and fasten your seat belts. Current speed is 2.1 kilometers per second, deceleration time is … "
The angular velocity was constant. As the height increased, the linear velocity of the elevator would naturally increase. On a macro level, the further away from Earth, the more obvious the sense of weightlessness in the elevator. When the elevator traveled to the synchronous orbit, the linear speed of the passengers and the elevator would also reach the synchronous orbit speed, and it would be completely weightless.
During the deceleration phase at the end, the passengers would ascend according to inertia, and the G value of the gravity parameter in the carriage would become negative, and the ceiling and floor might be upside down. Therefore, the attendant warmly reminded the passengers to return to their seats and fasten their seat belts before entering the deceleration phase.
William looked at the unfinished Twitter on his phone, sighed helplessly, put the phone back into his pocket, and returned to his seat. He made up his mind to wait until he arrived at the terminal space station – Celestial City before replying to those curious comments.
…
The video was also seen by Jiang Chen, although it was a week after the video was uploaded. The popularity of the video even faintly challenged the "Space Elevator Ride" documentary launched by Celestial Trade's partner, BBC!
It had to be said that humans were creatures of gossip.
Some people speculated that it was an alien spaceship, some people speculated that it was a burning asteroid, and some funny netizens commented that it was a friend undergoing a catastrophe.
However, Jiang Chen, who was lying on the bed playing with his phone, saw through the true identity of the "UFO" at a glance. That wasn't a spaceship, it was the Bennu asteroid captured by Celestial Trade!
A few days ago, the technical team led by Calvin had dragged it into the Earth-Moon system, and now they were making the final adjustments to make it as close to the Earth as possible.
The closer it was to the Earth, the lower the mining cost. However, what Jiang Chen didn't expect was that the rocket hanging in front of the asteroid could be seen so clearly from the synchronous orbit!
Jiang Chen suddenly woke up, sat up from the bed, and changed to a more comfortable position to lean on the pillow.
His fingers swiped across the holographic screen, and he typed keywords with his voice. Jiang Chen focused on the relevant news on the Internet.
In less than two minutes, he found what he was looking for.
As early as the day after the video was uploaded, the Capitol received a petition to investigate the "meteor". In just five days, the number of signatures on the petition exceeded 100,000. According to the regulations, when the number of signatures reached 100,000, the Capitol must respond.
The Capitol's approach was also very straightforward. They found Bolden, who had just returned from Canberra, and handed the task of investigation to NASA. NASA lived up to expectations. After two days of investigation, NASA Director Bolden used the official website of the Capitol to clarify the matter.
It had nothing to do with extraterrestrial civilization or Martians. It was just an asteroid. And the origin of this asteroid was not small. Its name was Bennu, and the scientific community predicted that it would collide with the Earth at the end of the 22nd century.
A "net" made of special material was hung on the asteroid, and the front of the net was connected to eight rocket engines. The mystery was revealed. The elongated light was not the "tail" of the asteroid at all, but the flashing tail flame of the rocket flying in front of the asteroid.
The mystery was revealed. The Bennu asteroid was pulled into the Earth-Moon system from its original orbit. And all of this turned out to be man-made. It really made the old experts of NASA speechless, and at the same time, they were worried for Mother Earth.
Based on the data observed by NASA, Bennu orbited the Sun at an average speed of 63000 miles per hour, and the collision with the Earth would be equivalent to detonating three billion tons of explosives!
It was incomparable to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, but it was certainly enough to make all of humanity suffer!
Jiang Chen logged onto the official website of the Capitol and glanced at the time when NASA published the report. The time was exactly five o 'clock in the afternoon. At that time, he had just signed a contract with the president of the Hilton Hotel, and then the two went to a hotel owned by Hilton for dinner.
"No wonder I didn't receive any news at all. This time is too coincidental," Jiang Chen muttered to himself, pinched his chin, and fell into deep thought.
He didn't file the plan to capture the asteroid with the United Nations because in his view, it was completely unnecessary. If he did, it would be asking for trouble. Other than causing unnecessary panic, there was no benefit.
Now this asteroid had attracted the attention of the UA, or rather, the attention of the whole world. Although there was no direct evidence to prove that the eight rocket engines were the masterpiece of Celestial Trade, no company in the world could achieve this feat with their aerospace technology.
SpaceX had already put in a lot of effort just to send a probe to the asteroid to take a rock sample!
Either the aliens were playing a joke on the Earth, or Celestial Trade was playing a joke on all of humanity.
Thinking of this, Jiang Chen pinched his eyebrows with a headache.
What should I do?
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