931 Century Project

In this way, it took the Skyhook several days to drag all the containers into space. After the last container was hoisted away, Ouyang Ping breathed a long sigh of relief: "It's finally done."

"Is it done?" Ye Han's voice suddenly rose, "What you think is quite beautiful."

"Ah? There's more?" Ouyang Ping exclaimed.

"Where are we now? It's still very early!" Ye Han looked melancholy.

Ouyang Ping was very discouraged and asked unwillingly: "How many more are there?"

"How do I know when it's enough and when it's enough?" Ye Han said irresponsibly.

Ye Han was indeed right. Early the next morning, a large group of aliens rushed to the base with giant insects. Each giant insect was piled high on its back.

Everyone continues to receive them, and after they are all packed into boxes, they will notify the Skyhook to lift them away.

Just like this, he had to repeat it every few days. Ye Han was so numb that he couldn't remember how many carbon fiber plants the Skyhook took away. Anyway, he would collect them when the aliens sent them. If there were not enough containers, he would ask for them from the top. , to put it nicely, it is getting more and more fulfilling every day, but to put it honestly, it means that I am exhausted every day.

Finally one day, Ouyang Ping couldn't help but ask: "Boss, isn't it enough?"

Ye Han said: "It's more than 24,000 kilometers, do you think it's enough?"

The gravity of Io is only 80% of that of the Earth, and its rotation speed is much faster than that of the Earth. Therefore, the synchronous orbit of Io is much lower than that of the Earth, only 24,000 kilometers, which is two-thirds of the Earth's.

In other words, the cable length required by Europa must be more than 24,000 kilometers!

Alas? Why not 24,000 kilometers?

Because what is placed in the synchronous orbit is the center of gravity of the cable plus space station, the position of the space station must be a little higher than the synchronous orbit, so that it will not deviate.

Ouyang Ping's eyes widened: "Is this going to happen in the year of the monkey and the month of the horse?"

Ye Han sighed helplessly: "It's up to you when it's enough!"

Ye Han's balls were extremely painful, and other aspects were not easy.

The current main function of Tianhe is no longer a space station, but a primary processing center for alien vines!

The Skyhook sent the container to the Tianhe. After receiving it, the Tianhe temporarily placed the container outside the space station. It retrieved the container in order, took out the vines inside for preliminary processing, and removed the outer skin, unnecessary tissue and excess moisture. A lot of carbon nanofibers are left behind.

The conditions aboard the Tianhe are limited and can only be processed to this step. After processing, they have to be repacked and transported back to Beiyuezhou. The entire bundle of carbon nanofibers is broken up, the nanoscale carbon nanotubes are extracted, and rewoven into Suitable carbon nanofiber cables.

This process is not as easy as imagined. In order to disperse the fiber bundles, Beidu and Washington worked together to create a batch of professional equipment. All carbon fibers shipped back to Beiyuezhou were processed by automated machinery.

However, even the most advanced equipment in mankind can only separate carbon nanotubes manually. Industrial production is not so precise at all, and it can be broken down to dozens of carbon nanotubes in the sky.

However, this level is enough. Dozens of entangled carbon nanotubes are woven into a rope, and with the help of appropriate processing, the strength can fully meet the needs of an orbital elevator.

The weaving of the cable is not smooth sailing. It is more than 24,000 kilometers long. On the earth, it can go half a circle around the equator with many twists and turns. In order to ensure the strength, there cannot be joints in the middle. How can it be woven by weaving?

Both Beijing and Washington are worried about this matter. After all, this is the first time humans have built an orbital elevator. They want to test all the theoretical things - if the resistance organization knows that humans are using them as experimental subjects, who knows what they will do. What do you think?

What's even more troublesome is that the weaving speed is too slow. At the beginning, we can only weave a few kilometers per day. At this speed, it will not be completed for more than ten or twenty years.

Beijing and Washington held a very efficient emergency consultation. After the consultation, dozens of additional sets of processing equipment were immediately added, and the weaving equipment was also improved accordingly.

After a lot of hard work, the daily output was finally increased by a large margin, reaching the level of thirty kilometers per day.

But at 30 kilometers a day, it would take more than 800 days to accumulate more than 24,000 kilometers, which is a full two and a half years. The Earth and the resistance organization are willing to wait, but can Jupiter stay calm for that long?

And there is no point in continuing to add equipment, because thirty kilometers per day is the limit, and no matter how much raw materials are added, it will not be able to keep up. In order to keep up with the schedule, even the carbon fiber produced by the earth is added.

Fortunately, this thing is not a rope in the usual sense, nor is it the same thickness from beginning to end. The stress at each position of the cable is different. The closer to the synchronous orbit, the stronger the force, so the newly woven cable is the widest and heaviest. , and then can gradually shrink and become thinner.

In order to get accurate data, Beidu and Washington used supercomputers to calculate several times, and then compared the data together. It took a lot of effort to get the most accurate mechanical model.

The first part Beiyuezhou weaves is the cable connecting the ground end in the atmosphere. This part is no worse than the space station part, so the weaving difficulty is relatively high. After this section is weaved, the difficulty will gradually decrease. The speed will also gradually increase.

In this way, there was an endless stream of transport ships traveling between the Earth and Europa, and the high-density transportation continued until early June 2029 before it finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The weaving task of Beiyuezhou lasted until early July. At the beginning of weaving, the completed cables were coiled layer by layer in the meteorite crater on the ground of Beiyuezhou. However, as the project progressed, the cables piled up more and more. Once they were tangled together, they could not be untied at all. At that time, all the work was in vain.

Later, Beidu simply used a spacecraft to pull the cable into space, pulling it out from the moon. At the beginning, it was only a few hundred kilometers. It was woven and pulled a little at a time. Finally, it was pulled out for more than 20,000 kilometers, dragging behind the moon like an ice-white tail - after strict surface treatment, the outer layer of the cable was attached with a thin layer of insect shell, so it looked light ice white.

Beidu and the Al-Qaeda Group also issued a joint statement, designating the area near the cable as a no-fly zone. No aircraft from any country was allowed to approach, otherwise they would be shot down without negotiation. Even the warships of the Beiyuezhou Fleet and the International Fleet must obtain permission from the joint command to approach.

On July 11, 2029, the last section of the cable was completed. With the order from the Joint Command, the spacecraft that had been holding the cable immediately flew to Jupiter.

So far, the orbital elevator project, which lasted nearly ten months, has finally borne fruit and is about to bear its first fruit.