On the fourth day of his vacation on the island, Jiang Chen ended the seven-day holiday ahead of schedule and returned to Coro Island by helicopter.
Everything was because of an email that temporarily changed his vacation schedule …
On the evening of April 4th.
A pitch-black helicopter roared with its propellers as it approached the island on the equator that was heavily guarded. In the night, it descended towards the landing apron with a flashing green light.
Before the plane stopped on the tarmac, Jiang Chen in casual clothes jumped onto the tarmac and walked toward Calvin who had been waiting for a long time.
This was the original site of the Space Launch Center. After the establishment of the Space Department, it was renamed Celestial Trade Ground Command Center as the headquarters of the Space Department with the most extensive business.
On the way to the command center, Calvin walked next to Jiang Chen and said with a serious expression.
"The night before yesterday, when the astronomical observation team of our Mars Colonization Program was analyzing astronomical data on the route to Mars, they made optical observations on the C1201 channel and found that thing. It's unbelievable … "
"Did you block the news?" Jiang Chen asked without stopping.
"It's been blocked," Calvin said seriously.
Jiang Chen nodded. "The confidential level is listed as S-class. The relevant personnel will have to bear with it for now and be temporarily isolated."
Calvin took a deep breath and nodded. "Understood."
The Mars Colonization Program Project Team, as the name implied, was established to colonize Mars. It aimed to solve all the difficulties that may arise from the departure of the colonial ship to the colonists' life on Mars. The ecosystem was easy to solve as the Garden of Eden Project in the apocalypse could be used as a reference, but the other problems were not small. Even if the technology of the apocalypse was absorbed, many places must be personally designed by modern scientific researchers.
In the timeline of the apocalypse, because of various political and diplomatic reasons, until the war, no one in the three camps had successfully built a colonial ship to Mars, or achieved a breakthrough in space activities.
According to Lin Lin, there were colonies of CCCP, NATO, and PAC on Mars, but they were basically scientific research, and the scale was naturally quite limited. Because the ecological cycle could not be achieved, after the destruction of the Earth's space elevator, the three colonies that relied on Earth for supplies were forced to be abandoned.
It was not difficult to launch a spacecraft to Mars, and NASA did it a long time ago. However, to establish a colony that could maintain a stable exchange of materials with Earth, instead of making going to Mars a one-way ticket, was not as simple as launching a spacecraft.
Mars and Earth always maintained relative motion, and the distance between them varied between 5,500 to 400 million kilometers. Ensuring a stable route from Earth to Mars was the key to achieving the Mars colonization plan. This work was done by the astronomical observation team of the project team.
Their daily work was to use quantum computers to calculate the channel, and through optical, spectral, and other observation methods, to confirm whether there were meteorites, asteroids, and other obstacles on the channel. However, when they were observing the C1201 channel, they found something similar to a UFO.
The two stopped in front of an aluminum alloy door with the Mars colonization plan logo. Calvin took out the graphene card in his hand and swiped it on the card reader at the door.
After the door opened, Calvin quickly walked to the holographic screen in front of him, and the project leader immediately gave up his seat. Calvin reached out and clicked on the operation interface, then patted the back of the staff chair in front of him, and ordered, "Aim the Celestial 1 telescope at the C1201 channel."
"Yes." The staff member nodded and tapped on the touchpad.
The astronomical telescope far above Celestial City slightly swung its angle and began to zoom.
Soon, Jiang Chen saw a dark shadow appear in the center of the holographic screen. The shape of the dark shadow was similar to a regular sphere, and the surrounding space was distorted and wrinkled, exuding an ominous aura.
Jiang Chen's pupils contracted slightly, and his heart was in his throat for an instant.
"Through elemental spectroscopic analysis, the target titanium content is more than 61%." Without noticing the change in Jiang Chen's expression, Calvin brought up another orange-red spectroscopic map and explained to Jiang Chen the parameters on the map.
When Jiang Chen heard this sentence, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief, and his clenched fists loosened.
Although he wasn't sure if biological civilizations used metal to arm themselves, at least one thing was certain. Since the technology tree was skewed to biology, then the carbon content must be more than 50%, right?
After Jiang Chen calmed down a little, he raised his chin at the black sphere in the holographic screen.
"What is that?"
"I don't know." Calvin's expression was indescribably strange, like excitement and doubt. "We guess it may be a kind of unidentified flying object … from another civilization."
Another civilization?
Jiang Chen took a moment to process it, then frowned.
"Zoom in."
"I can't do it." Calvin shook his head.
"Can't do it?" Jiang Chen was taken aback.
Calvin didn't explain, but chose to hide it directly for Jiang Chen to see. He patted the chair of the staff sitting in front of him and motioned him to adjust the focus of the telescope and zoom in on the UFO.
The next magical scene made Jiang Chen's eyes widen.
As the lens zoomed in, the UFO in the center of the lens showed signs of tearing. When the distance exceeded a certain limit, the pitch black UFO began to blur as if it had been mosaic, and finally disappeared from the image.
Yes, it disappeared.
The silence lasted for a while. When the staff zoomed in again, Jiang Chen abruptly said.
"Optical invisibility."
"Yes." Calvin nodded solemnly. "We think so too."
From this point alone, it completely ruled out the possibility that the spacecraft was launched by the former Soviet Union or the UA. At present, only Celestial Trade and Future Group had mastered optical invisibility.
"This UFO can be observed optically. Our technology can't analyze the mechanism for the time being, but one thing is certain, this function should be damaged for some reason. Otherwise, we shouldn't be able to see it at all. It's not like now, where we can see a near-spherical black shadow at a specific distance."
At this point, Calvin paused for a moment and said his own guess.
"If this explanation is correct, then the remaining possibility is that this should be the wreckage of a UFO."
Looking at the black shadow on the screen, Jiang Chen pondered for a long time before he said.
"Is there a way to pick it up?"
Calvin looked troubled and shook his head.
"It's too far. It's 30 million kilometers away from us in a straight line. The cruising radius of our Stingray X-1 series spacecraft is only one million kilometers. It's simply not capable of flying outside the Earth-Moon system, let alone bringing it back."
"It's good to just go up and take a look." Jiang Chen looked at Calvin. "We at least have to know what's up there."
At least they had to know what was up there before other countries.
After a long time of contemplation, Calvin sighed and said.
"In theory, the RM-400 ion propulsion engine used by the Stingray X-1 series spacecraft already has the capability of interstellar navigation. With the help of the ejection port of the space elevator, it is not difficult to accelerate to the second cosmic speed to leave the Earth-Moon system. But the key is the battery of the Stingray X-1. According to the calculation of the quantum computer, its energy is just enough for one round trip. If we forcibly carry out this flight mission, there is a high probability that it will be a one-way ticket. "
Once it was impossible to return, it would truly be drifting in the universe. It would almost be a death certificate.
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Chen made a decision.
"Select volunteers from the active pilots of Celestial Trade."
"Those who participate in this top-secret flight mission, regardless of whether they survive or not, their rank will automatically rise by three levels."
"Install a hibernation chamber in the Stingray X-1 performing the mission. If it is determined that it is impossible to return, allow us to start the frozen dormancy program and send our volunteers to the future. "
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