Eight Hundred and Sixty, Mind-Blowing

May 30, 2027, Zhongnanhai.

The atmosphere in the conference room was stagnant, and everyone present looked heavy. A dozen old smokers in military uniforms puffed away smoke. The ashtrays on the conference table were filled with cigarette butts, and the air was filled with the lingering smell of smoke.

Brother Yi took a deep breath, poked the burned cigarette butt into the ashtray and twisted it fiercely: "Everyone knows the situation. Even though Io will not arrive on Earth for another year and a half, there is not much time left for us. "More, we... no, the situation facing mankind as a whole is unprecedentedly severe. We cannot sit back and wait, let alone place our hopes on other countries!"

Having said this, Brother Yi lit another cigarette, took a deep breath, and puffed out a puff of smoke as if his stomach was on fire: "Lao Qiu, have you come up with a new plan?" Brother Yi didn't smoke at first, but he has been smoking recently. The pressure on him was simply too great.

"The preliminary plan has been come up, but it hasn't been perfected yet." There was a lingering heaviness between Qiu Tianning's brows, and his tone was the same.

Brother Yi waved his hand, and the cigarette between his fingers drew a few irregular bright lines: "Tell me, be more detailed."

Qiu Tianning said: "Analysis believes that even if it is equipped with a nuclear bomb with a yield of 100 million tons, the possibility of the Fourth Fleet stopping Europa is very small. It is recommended to abort the expedition plan."

"Are you planning to shrink your troops and wait for Muwei to come closer?" Brother Yi frowned, condensing a sense of misfortune.

"No!" Qiu Tianning opened the folder in front of him, took out a piece of paper and shook it, "This is a document obtained from the Astronomical Bureau. It contains the detailed orbit data of Europa. Analysis found that Europa's current speed and The direction is not to fly towards the Earth at all, but Europa will fly near Mars in the near future - note, not flying over the orbit of Mars, but encountering Mars! "

Everyone immediately realized that there was something in Qiu Tianning's words, and everyone looked at Qiu Tianning.

Qiu Tianning put down the document and turned to look at Brother Yi: "We think this is an opportunity."

Brother No. 1 was puzzled: "What chance?"

Qiu Tianning said: "Io's speed is too fast. It must slow down before it can get close to the earth. So we believe that the purpose of Io's approach to Mars may be to use the gravitational slingshot effect to use the gravity of Mars to slow down Io! "

"What? It's impossible, right?" Wu Shenglong's eyes widened in shock, "The diameter of Mars is less than 7,000 kilometers, which is a lot smaller than Jupiter!"

Qiu Tianning said: "Except for this, we can't figure out why Io is close to Mars. Aliens will not have Io hit Mars, right?"

"It's not impossible!" Wu Shenglong said, "The combined mass of Mars and Europa is not much worse than that of the Earth, right? Mars is just on the edge of the habitable zone. If these two stars collide, what will happen? Become a new planet..."

The rest of the words were not spoken, but everyone can imagine the consequences of Mars being occupied by aliens.

Brother Yi turned his gaze to the right: "Huo Qiang, what's your opinion?"

The thoughtful Huo Qiang raised his head: "Mars is very dry, but there is a lot of water on Europa. Even if the combination of the two cannot form a vast ocean, it can at least form a stable water system. It is indeed possible to turn Mars into a planet." Habitable planet!”

"It's not that simple, right?" Wu Shenglong had a different opinion, "How can the collision of celestial bodies be so simple? If it really hits one, it would be an astronomical disaster. Even if it really hits a new planet, so what? It took hundreds of millions of years for the earth to Once it stabilizes, will the new planet be able to stabilize within 1800 years?”

Qiu Tianning said: "Maybe they can shorten the stability time of the new planet... Who can say for sure about aliens?"

Wu Shenglong was a little dazed: "Isn't this idea too big? So what should we do? Wait for the aliens to find the new planet and then snatch it over, or continue to stop Europa?"

If Mars could become a habitable star...it would be a livable star, and it would be a lie to say that I am not interested.

"Aliens' things are not so easy to snatch. Of course, they must stop Europa!" Qiu Tianning replied matter-of-factly,

"Don't think about good things. If aliens really knock out a new planet, we won't be able to grab it. You just said that if two planets really collide, it will be an astronomical disaster. Maybe the new planet doesn't come out, then The two planets will smash together first, and then all the asteroids in the sky will fly towards the earth. The asteroids alone will be enough for us to have a headache. Moreover, Mars is too far away, and hitting Mars would be worse than hitting Venus. At least the temperature is guaranteed. "

The last sentence is pure nonsense. Anyone who knows a little bit about astronomy knows that the problem of Venus is not only the dense atmosphere and ultra-high temperature, but more importantly, the rotation speed of Venus is appallingly slow.

It is daytime for half of the year. Even if Venus is really a habitable star, the temperature will never be lower if it is exposed to the sun for half a year. The temperature on the night side will definitely be getting lower and lower.

Unless Venus spins faster, it will never become a habitable star.

Brother Yi said seriously: "How high is the possibility of a collision?"

"It's very small." Qiu Tianning said, "No matter how advanced the aliens' technology is, they can't withstand the collision of two planets. I don't think aliens will mess with their home planet."

Brother Yi nodded thoughtfully: "Continue!"

"Yes!" Qiu Tianning agreed, "The focus of our attention is not what exactly Io wants to do, but that Io must pass through Mars!"

Huo Qiang asked in surprise: "What? The next plan is to block Europa on Mars? Mars... Well, how to use Mars to complete the blockade?"

Finally getting to the point, Qiu Tianning said loudly: "It's not about using Mars, but using Mars' satellites!"

Again, everyone was stunned, and the elder brother asked with concentration: "How to use it?"

"The specific plan has not yet come out. The initial plan is to install engines on Phobos and Deimos, and drive them to hit Jupiter's moon!" Qiu Tianning said.

"Can it work?" Wu Shenglong looked at Qiu Tianning as if he was looking at a lunatic, "How much mass do those two satellites have? Do we have such a big engine? Besides, the engine has to be transported after it is built. Is it so easy to do?"

Are you kidding? Installing engines on satellites? When humans are like aliens, can they even install engines on planets and drive them away?

"Everything depends on human efforts." Qiu Tianning said, "When I was a child, I read novels, and there were plots about burying countless nuclear bombs on the moon and pushing the moon to hit aliens. What's the big deal about installing engines on two small satellites?"

"No, the idea is good, the key is whether we have the technology!" Wu Shenglong tapped the table with his fingers.

"I think there is no problem with the technology," Qiu Tianning said, "but the details still need to be carefully considered."