When Blacklight Biotechnology announced that the Ares was about to set sail, those who had been worried about mankind seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, those who did not care about the development of science and technology were led by the major media to learn about the news. In an instant, Blacklight Biotechnology once again became a hot topic in the world. It even made it into the top ten of Sina Weibo's trending list!
Sina Weibo's trending list:
1. Xiao Zhan's finger was cut — 100 million.
2. Zheng Jie's toilet was clogged — 60 million.
3. Chase the Light, Brother — 45 million.
4. EXO came out of the closet — 30 million.
...
10. Blacklight Biotechnology is about to set foot on Mars — 100,000.
In the Ares program, in addition to the landing of the Ares spacecraft on Mars, there was also an Ares program registration event at the end of the video. After these people entered the website provided at the end of the video, they found themselves on a page on the official website of Blacklight Biotechnology. At the top of the page was the same line of text —
The Ares program colonist registration event officially begins on July 1, 2028!
Below this line of words was an electronic application form. It contained information such as name, age, education, occupation, and so on. Anyone could fill in the form.
If this application form was selected, there would be a call from the local Blacklight Biotechnology branch in the following period, inviting applicants to go there for an interview.
If the interview was successful, then the applicant would be eligible to migrate to Mars when the Mars colony was completed in a few years.
According to the description, Blacklight Biotechnology would recruit ten thousand people as the first batch of permanent residents of the Mars colony. With the nuclear fusion engine of the Ares, it would only take a week to reach Mars.
This speed was almost epochal compared to the past. Back then, the various Mars probes launched by mankind needed at least half a year to reach Mars.
Now that the inertial confinement fusion engine had improved by 25 times, this was still not the limit of the inertial confinement fusion engine. It could only be regarded as an early stage at best. In a few decades or centuries, mankind was expected to be able to accelerate spacecraft to sub-light speed.
Even now, a one-week voyage was not much different from a cruise at sea.
This registration activity immediately aroused the interest of many people. In Western society, influenced by Western-style education, most people had a maverick and adventurous spirit. Although Eastern society did not have as many people as Western society, those young people who pursued a scientific and technological life also signed up.
At the same time, Blacklight Biotechnology even promised that as the first batch of Mars colonists, the colonists would be equivalent to employees of Blacklight Biotechnology. Each person would receive a monthly salary of tens of thousands of US dollars. This was only the basic salary and did not include mission bonuses and subsidies.
After becoming the first batch of colonists, the colonists would also enjoy a lot of benefits. Even real estate and food would be covered by Blacklight Biotechnology for free. If they got married and had children on Mars, even their offspring would receive free but high-quality elite education.
This extremely generous offer made countless people's hearts beat faster. In just one day, millions of people had filled in the registration form.
However, there was also a threshold to become a colonist. Due to the emergence of XTN robots and androids, the colony did not need low-end labor. From cleaning to planting and industrial work, they could be completed by automated robots. Blacklight Biotechnology would only recruit talents with special skills.
For example, mechanical maintenance, program development, engineers, designers, and various scientific researchers. Therefore, most white-collar and blue-collar workers were destined to have no chance with the first batch of colonists.
Late at night, in a house on the outskirts of Zhongzhou City in Mainland China, a man with a face full of stubble and a haggard expression silently looked at the computer screen in front of him with a cigarette in his mouth.
On the computer was the immigration application on the Blacklight Biotechnology website interface —
Name: Wang Wei. Gender: Male. Age: 27. School Status: Department of Biological Sciences, Haizhou City Jiaotong University...
The lights in the room were not turned on. The entire room was dark and gray. Only the computer screen was lit up with a white light, which made the man's face look a little pale.
He looked at the promotional video of Blacklight Biotechnology on the screen, but his eyes gradually became blank as if he was recalling something.
Amid the lingering smoke, the man's memory seemed to fly back to seven or eight years ago, recalling his university days.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, a burning smell suddenly came from the corner of his mouth. The man was pulled back to reality. He hurriedly removed the cigarette butt and crushed it in the ashtray that was almost full.
After that, he scrolled to the bottom of the page and moved the mouse to the "Submit" button at the end. However, he seemed to be unable to make up his mind and press the button.
At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps approaching from outside the house.
After hearing these footsteps, the man quickly switched the form and let the picture of the desktop appear on the computer.
Then, there was a heavy sound of the door opening. A woman in pajamas with a somewhat mean appearance appeared at the door.
As soon as the woman entered the door, she immediately smelled of cigarettes. She fanned herself with some disgust and then said loudly, "Smoking, smoking, smoking all day long. You can't get promoted and you only give your family a few thousand a month. What can you do with that little money? You want me and your son to starve? "
The man slowly turned his head when he heard this. He said coldly, "I know, I..."
However, before he could finish, the woman suddenly came in front of the computer. She snatched the man's mouse and then clicked on the interface at the bottom, suddenly revealing the website of Blacklight Biotechnology.
"What are you doing?"
The man could not help frowning.
"Hehe, you're reading this kind of news again. Didn't you say you're working overtime?"
The woman sneered. "How unlucky of me to be with you. I don't have money and I'm not willing to work hard. Back then, you always bragged that you and the founder of Blacklight Biotechnology were in the same dormitory and were close enough to wear each other's pants. Now that he's rich, he doesn't even remember you. You obviously have his phone number but you don't want to contact him. Say, if you can get an official position in Blacklight Biotechnology, the two of us will be more glorious, won't we?"
"Are you done talking?"
The man took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart.
"What, you're afraid that I'll say it if you don't have the ability?"
The woman continued to sneer. "If it weren't for your mother's serious illness last year, spending all the family's money and running up a pile of debt, would I have been forced to live in such a rundown house? You're lucky I didn't divorce you. How dare you be so impatient with me now? "
Hearing this, the originally rising flame of anger in the man suddenly extinguished. This matter had always been his weakness.
"Now I have to borrow money for the child's milk powder!"
The woman continued. "Next year, I don't even know where to pay for the child's kindergarten. Now you're smoking all day, that's all you know!"
After a round of abuse, the woman saw the man lower his head and turned to leave.
Listening to the footsteps of the woman leaving, the man smiled silently. He no longer hesitated, dragged the page to the bottom again, and pressed the "Submit" button!
"Click!"
With a soft click of the mouse, the interface suddenly flashed and changed to the words "You have submitted successfully".
"Lil Chen, I'll follow you from now on!"
The man's eyes flashed with a solemn look as he murmured in a low voice.
...
Following the announcement of Blacklight Biotechnology, more than ten million people filled in the application within a day. Although most of them were ordinary professionals, there were also many valuable researchers. Even some famous scientists had filled in the application form and publicly announced that they hoped to become the first batch of colonists in human history and contribute to the progress of mankind.
Moreover, it did not mean that they could not return to Earth after becoming a colonist. Blacklight Biotechnology also promised that the colonists would retain the citizenship of their respective continents. After the establishment of the colony, a flight route between the two places would be completely opened. In the near future, travel between Earth and Mars would become as common as taking a plane. The colonists could resign at any time and return to Earth.
Ever since the Mars colonization plan was announced, the tension that the world had fallen into over a hundred years due to the lack of resources and land had imperceptibly eased.
After all, there were infinite resources and space in outer space. Now that they had a channel to vent, the four major continents were unwilling to continue to fight among themselves for the sake of Earth. Instead, while they continued to develop nuclear fusion reactors, they all turned their attention to the starry sky above their heads.
According to a popular saying, "Our goal is the sea of stars!"
Therefore, amidst everyone's expectations, on August 1, 2028 AD, the manned spacecraft Ares officially set off. It flew into the sky, carrying the hope of mankind and a bright spark of light, flew out of the atmosphere, and flew to the distant Mars!
In this expedition to Mars, there were three people from each of the four major continents on this trip. This occupied twelve places on the spacecraft and the remaining four places were employees of Blacklight Biotechnology.
At the same time, the Ares spacecraft also carried two hundred tons of building materials and daily necessities, one hundred XTN engineering robots of various models, fifty androids, and several special drones.
Although the air density on Mars was extremely low, only about one percent of Earth's, the gravity of Mars was only two-fifths of Earth's. According to the calculations of scientists, if a drone was sent to Mars, with modern materials and battery technology, there was a chance that it could fly.
In order to obtain detailed data, the scientists of Blacklight Biotechnology had previously built a test machine, which was a space simulator.
In order to mimic the environment of Mars as much as possible, the scientists first extracted the air from the simulator and then put in a small amount of carbon dioxide to achieve a state with the same composition as the Martian atmosphere.
As for the gravitational force, the scientists used a wire to pull it from above with a specific force to "reduce weight".
Therefore, the final test showed that the drone could fly on Mars. After technical adjustments, it could fly higher and faster than on Earth.
With the nuclear engine, the Ares only flew for a week. When the seventh day arrived, a huge orange-red planet had appeared in the window of the bridge, even occupying most of the field of vision.
At the same time, the group of scientists in the cabin felt a slight gravitational force. Whether it was eating or floating, all objects had a tendency to drift forward.
And as time passed, this gravitational force became stronger and stronger.
At this time, in the bridge, a group of scientists stared at the behemoth in front of them with some urgency. If there was a Guinness World Record at this time, then this group of people had successfully broken the record for the farthest human expedition because at this time, they had come more than 100 million kilometers away from Earth.
This was a strange world that humans had never set foot in...
"Everyone, calm down. With the control of the AI, we can easily land, just like when we left Earth."
The captain of the Ares, who was also a researcher of Blacklight Biotechnology, suddenly said jokingly, "This time, we'll land at the south pole of Mars — the Ultimi Copuli area. Although it's much colder than the south pole of Earth, the temperature is about -70 degrees to -139 degrees, but don't worry, we'll wear very thick clothes."
"Sorry, that's not what I'm worried about."
A European scientist in his forties shrugged. "What I'm worried about now is, is there really enough water at the south pole of Mars for us to bathe in? You have to know, I've been filthy for the past seven days... "
"Hahaha!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
"Don't worry, the polar cap of Mars is composed of ice and solid carbon dioxide. Previous surveys have confirmed that there is a large amount of liquid water under the ice cap. Even if there's no liquid water, we can still turn the ice into water for everyone to bathe in."
Although the captain knew that it was a joke, he still said dutifully, "So, you don't need to worry about the problem of hot baths."
As everyone chatted, an electronically synthesized female voice suddenly came from the spacecraft. "All crew members, please get ready. The Ares manned spacecraft has entered the gravitational range of Mars. In the next twelve hours, we'll merge into low-Earth orbit of Mars and land at the south pole of Ultimi Copuli.
"To prevent any accidents from happening, from now on, everyone please put on spacesuits and enter the escape capsule. Thank you for your cooperation!"
Following the words of the Ares artificial intelligence system, everyone bumped fists with each other and said, "See you on Mars" before leaving the bridge one by one.
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